Guinea junta agrees to leave power after two years - ECOWAS

Guinea's ruling junta has agreed to hand over power to civilians after two years, giving up under threat of imminent sanctions to run the country for three years, says a document from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

"In a dynamic compromise, the experts of ECOWAS and Guinea have jointly developed a consolidated chronogram (calendar) of the transition spread over 24 months," said the document transmitted Friday to an AFP correspondent and published on social networks by the junta.

The document does not specify when this 24-month period begins.

Colonel Mamady Doumbouya has pledged to hand over to civilians after elections. The junta had previously stated its intention to govern for three years, while it organizes credible elections and carries out important reforms necessary for what it calls a "refoundation" of the Guinean state.

ECOWAS said such a delay was unacceptable. On September 22, the leaders of the member states meeting at a summit in New York without Guinea had given the authorities one month to present a "reasonable and acceptable" timetable, failing which "more severe sanctions" than those already imposed on the country would be applied.

The timetable should be presented to the next summit of ECOWAS "for its approval in order to trigger its implementation," said the document of the regional organization.

An ordinary summit of ECOWAS is scheduled before the end of the year.

Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized power by force on September 5, 2021 by overthrowing civilian President Alpha Conde with his men. He has since made himself president.

He has pledged to hand over to civilians after elections. The junta had previously stated its intention to govern for three years, the time it needs to organize credible elections and carry out important reforms necessary for what it calls a "refoundation" of the Guinean state.

ECOWAS said such a delay was unacceptable. On September 22, the leaders of the member states meeting at a summit in New York without Guinea had given the authorities one month to present a "reasonable and acceptable" timetable, failing which "more severe sanctions" than those already imposed would be applied.

However, the bridges were never broken and the Guinean authorities repeated their readiness to cooperate with ECOWAS, which sent a mission to Conakry this week to work out a compromise timetable.

Guinean Prime Minister Bernard Goumou said Thursday that the authorities were "not set in stone" on the three-year timetable.