POLITICS-GUINEA: Quarrel Over President’s Third Term of Office

By Saliou Samb Reprint | | Print |

Saliou Samb

CONAKRY, Oct 26 2001 (IPS) - Opposition parties in Guinea have decided to boycott the Nov 11 referendum, called to determine whether Lansana Conte should be granted a third chance to run for the presidency.

The opposition coalition, Movement for Change of Power and Democracy Against the Referendum (MORAD), has made it clear that it also intends to block the Dec 27 legislative elections.

MORAD’s spokesperson, Ba Mamadou, noted Wednesday at a Conakry press conference: “As of this week, we’ll be organising demonstrations…meetings in Conakry and the rest of the country, marches, and other actions to prevent the ruling powers from imposing their will on the Guinean people”.

“We’re ready and we plan to act on an ad hoc basis. We want to let the government know that what they’re planning with this referendum and the legislative elections is completely illegal,” Mamadou emphasised.

“To do that, we’ve developed an action plan that goes through Nov 11, the date on which the referendum is scheduled. A plan to revise the constitution cannot be submitted to a vote by the people unless it first goes through the National Assembly,” he added.

Mamadou said, “General Conte wants to create a no-party regime in Guinea like in Uganda, where the president can do whatever he likes. But we will not accept that here.”

MORAD plans to organise a series of meetings in Conakry soon. “Even if the authorities say the meeting is not authorised, we’re going to hold it anyway because this time we cannot retreat. Our credibility in the eyes of the Guinean and international public is at stake,” said Mamadou.

Mamadi Diane of the Guinean People’s Union (RPG) – the party of opposition leader Alpha Conde – told IPS at the end of the press conference that “the opposition mobilisation we’re witnessing is reassuring. It allows us to express ourselves and to let the Conte regime know they can’t walk all over us.”

Reacting to a letter from the Ministry of Justice that intends to exclude Conde from the Dec 27 legislative elections, Diane said, “Conde was never stripped of his parliamentary immunity”, when he was jailed in 1998.

Former prime minister and leader of the opposition Union of Republican Forces (UFR), Sidya Toure, said “it is impossible to hold (legislative elections) under the present conditions, after the massive displacement of people during recent rebel attacks. The voter lists need to be revised”.

The opposition said they want to “prevent Guinea from instituting life president” in the West African country.

If Conte is given free hand, Mohamed Berete, of the department of law at the University of Conakry, said “the proposed constitutional reform will offer no protection against one-man rule”.

El Hadj Biro Diallo, the Speaker of the National Assembly, said “the Nov 11 referendum amounts to an institutional coup d’etat”.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice said on Wednesday that “President Conte is our leader. We should do what he says. For our part, we will do everything we can to make sure the law of Guinea is respected”.

Aboubacar Sompare, secretary-general of the ruling Party of Unity and Progress (PUP), said “President Conte is free to submit a referendum to the public. The law does not say that he must first get it passed by the National Assembly.”

Guinea, which shares its borders with Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Cote D’Ivoire, has seen its share of political violence.

In Sep 1993, some 20 activists from rival political parties were killed during clashes.

When opposition leader Conde was arrested in Dec 1998, several militants from his party, the RPG, died in confrontations with the police.

Another opposition leader, Charles Pascal Tolno, offered a glimmer of hope when he observed that “the army is siding with the republicans”, referring to the opposition political parties.

Sekou Toure, ruled Guinea for 26 years as a dictator until Conte took over in a coup d’etat on Apr 3, 1984.

After nine years of military dictatorship, Conte was first elected in 1993 and then re-elected in 1998 after a controversial vote where Conde, the opposition legislator, was arrested and imprisoned for almost two years.