Guinea: African Union lifts sanctions

After it imposed sanctions on Guinea following the 2021 coup, the African Union has announced it is lifting them.

It comes after what the Union described as ‘the successful organisation of the presidential election’ in December. The Union hailed what it referred to as "the positive steps taken in the implementation of the Political Transition Roadmap in the Republic of Guinea which culminated in the successful organization of the presidential election on 28 December 2025".

A civil society group urging the return of civilian rule has denounced the election as a "charade", while opposition candidates said the poll was rife with irregularities.

Former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was congratulated by the Union for his election win. In front of a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters, Doumbouya was sworn in as president on Saturday.

It comes after he ousted the country’s first freely elected President Alpha Condé five years ago.

Doumbouya has since clamped down on civil liberties and banned demonstrations, with political rivals arrested, put on trial or forced into exile.