Link to article: https://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00082008.html
The head of Guinea’s military junta, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya has come out and said that he has chosen to have a 39-month transitional period into the return of civilian rule. This announcement came after the April 2022 creation of what the regime is describing as an “inclusive consultation framework” has culminated in a conference that was boycotted by several prominent political groups. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) set April 25, 2022 as the deadline to put forward an acceptable timetable for transition. If the timetable is not created by that time, there is a risk of economic and financial sanctions in the area. This comes after Colonel Doumbouya’s army overtook former president Alpha Conde with the promise of forming a new “union” government with civilian leaders within weeks, but failing to do so.
I think that what is going on is interesting. I find it understandable that the people are upset that Conde didn’t keep his word about creating a new “union” government with civilian leaders. With former president Conde being overthrown due to accusations of “rampant corruption and human rights abuses”. It is not too surprising to me that people were hoping for the interim president to keep his word at creating the new union government in order to let the people rule over themselves and have an overall less corrupted system. With ECOWAS getting involved and threatening sanctions, it isn’t too awfully shocking that the timetable did end up getting submitted by the deadline assigned.
This relates back to class through levels of analysis. On an interstate/ regional level, ECOWAS got involved in order to try and prevent another overtaking of a president from happening. ECOWAS is probably afraid that if these overtakings keep occurring then violence will only get worse in the area. On an individual level Doumbouya is probably complying because he is afraid of the backlash of what could happen if he chooses not to. Not only would people be upset over the fact that he didn’t keep his word on what he would do while he was interim president, but they would also be mad at the fact that his non-compliance has lead to economic sanctions in the area.