On March 1st, voters in Guinea are to vote on a constitutional amendment. This could give President Conde the opportunity to run for the next election. The fear of violence is growing
Little Guinea is in a big crisis. Violent protests against President Conde’s government have been going on since October last year. “It is difficult to report anything positive about Guinea at the moment,” said Paul Melly, West Africa expert at the London think tank Chatham House, in an interview. “Tensions will increase. More than 200 people have died in the clashes between police and demonstrators in recent months.” Many people are also very concerned about the crisis in their home country.
Crash of hope
The 81-year-old President Alpha Conde was still a beacon of hope when he took office in 2010. He was the first president since independence in 1958 to come to power through free elections. By contrast, his predecessors had come into office through electoral fraud or military coups. In 2015 Conde, who is also the leader of the governing party RPG, was confirmed in office for another five years. According to the constitution, which allows the president only two terms, he will not be able to run in the next presidential election in December. But Conde apparently has other ideas: “Why shouldn’t it be possible to rule three terms in Guinea?” he told the French newspaper, Le Figaro.
