September 14, (THEWILL) – Guinean President Alpha Conde has reportedly declared he would rather be killed than resign from his office. This is despite having been ousted by a coup.
According to the local media in Guinea, Conde told an ECOWAS delegation that “I would rather be killed than sign my resignation.” This might be an indication of the request the coup plotters are making of him.
Conde was deposed in a coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, a former French legionnaire and an elite military unit commander. Doumbouya said the country’s current constitution and national assembly have been suspended in the best interests of Guineans.
Following the widely condemned coup, regional body ECOWAS dispatched a delegation to look into the crisis. The ECOWAS mission, made up of Foreign Ministers Robert Dussey (Togo), Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey (Ghana), Alpha Barry (Burkina) and de Jean Claude Brou, the chairman of the organizing committee, was allowed to meet with Conde.
According to the publication Jeune Afrique, Alpha Conde is still detained at the headquarters of the special forces, located not far from the People’s Palace, the seat of the National Assembly.
Conde reportedly has a bedroom, a living room, and a bathroom, but has no access to his phones or the radio.
The television, which he was able to watch for a time, was taken away from him because, according to his guards, “he gets angry every time he sees Lieutenant-Colonel Doumbouya on the screen and this affects his state of health,” as per Jeune Afrique.
Condé won a controversial third term in October after amending the constitution to allow him to run again despite violent protests from the opposition, raising concerns of a backslide in a region that has seen coups in Mali and Chad in recent months.
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