An interview with pro-democracy leader Sadio Barry on Guinea’s coup and prospects for democracy

After the highly contested re-election in Guinea of long-time-ruler President Alpha Condé to a third term on 18 October 2020, social unrest and violence gradually worsened in the country. Many dissidents and opposition leaders accused the president of falsifying both the elections and the constitution, allowing for a third presidential term in the first place. One year later, on 5 September 2021, a group of elite military forces trained in France – created by the president himself to defend him from alleged ‘terror’ – staged a coup. The leader of these forces, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, took power and installed a new prime minister, the former UN employee and ‘development veteran’ Mohamed Beavogui, along with a government that explicitly promised that no member would stand in future democratic elections in 2022 or earlier.