A leading figure in Guinea’s opposition on Saturday urged the regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) not to impose economic sanctions on Guinea’s new military regime, describing the recent coup as a “welcome development.”
“The junta does not deserve to be sanctioned because it put an end to a situation of lawlessness,” former Guinean prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo said.
Diallo, who ran unsuccessfully against deposed president Alpha Conde three times in successive elections, said there were no other options left but a coup.
Photo: AP
Guinea’s ruling military has been coming under growing diplomatic pressure after special forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized power last Sunday and arrested Conde.
ECOWAS suspended Guinea on Wednesday, and the African Union followed suit on Friday.
ECOWAS has suspended a decision on economic sanctions until it receives a report from a fact-finding mission sent to Guinea.
However, Diallo said: “The involvement of the army to end an illegal and illegitimate mandate was for me a welcome decision.”
He maintains that Conde cheated him out of the presidency in last year’s election.
Conde, 83, had come under increasing fire for perceived authoritarianism, with dozens of opposition activists arrested after last year’s violently disputed election.
However, the coup in Guinea has sparked fears of democratic backsliding across West Africa, where military strongmen are an increasingly familiar sight.
Guinea’s coup leaders have formed a junta named the CNRD, which has dissolved the government along with a controversial new constitution that Conde pushed through to allow him to run for a third term.
They have also promised form a “government of national union” to oversee a political transition.
In Mali, ECOWAS initially objected to the military regime there overseeing a move to transitional rule after the army seized power. The military remains in power, and doubts are growing about its commitment to elections in February next year.
In Chad, when then-president Idriss Deby died in battle in April, his son seized power at the head of a military junta. Neither ECOWAS nor the African Union had been able to impose an immediate move to civilian rule.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of