UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Sunday’s apparent coup in Guinea and urged putschists who said they had seized power to release the country’s detained president.
“I am personally following the situation in Guinea very closely. I strongly condemn any takeover of the government by force of the gun and call for the immediate release of President Alpha Conde,” Guterres tweeted.
“We have decided, after having taken the president, to dissolve the constitution,” said a uniformed officer flanked by soldiers toting assault rifles in a video.
The officer also said that Guinea’s land and air borders have been shut and the government has been dissolved.
Another video by the putschists showed a rumpled-looking President Alpha Conde sitting on a sofa, surrounded by troops. He refused to answer a question from one soldier about whether he was being mistreated.
Guinea — one of the world’s poorest countries despite boasting significant mineral resources — has long been beset by political instability.
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Earlier on Sunday, residents of the capital Conakry’s Kaloum district, the government quarter, reported hearing heavy gunfire.
A Western diplomat in Conakry who declined to be named suggested the unrest may have started after the dismissal of a senior commander in the special forces — provoking some of its highly trained members to rebel.
Later on, the head of Guinea’s military special forces, Lieutenant-Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, appeared on public television, draped in the national flag, and cited government “mismanagement” as a reason behind his actions.
