Under ECOWAS pressure, Guinea junta agrees to leave power in two years

Guinea’s ruling junta has agreed to restore civilian rule in two years, after facing sanctions by the West African bloc ECOWAS over its original plan for a three-year transfer of power.

“In a dynamic compromise, experts from ECOWAS and Guinea have jointly developed a consolidated chronogram (timetable) for a transition spread over 24 months,” Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said in a report following a technical mission to the country last week. West African leaders had last month suspended Guinea from the bloc and imposed sanctions on a number of individuals following a military coup. The country’s military leader, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, said in an address broadcast on state television that the timetable would take effect from 1 January 2023.

Leaders from the ECOWAS must approve the timetable before it is officially implemented, with the bloc due to hold a summit before the end of the year. The bloc had given the junta one month to present a “reasonable and acceptable” timetable for the return to civilian rule, an ultimatum that theoretically expires this weekend. Diplomatic links between the two sides have remained and Guinean authorities have reiterated their readiness to cooperate with ECOWAS, which had dispatched its mission to Conakry to work out a compromise schedule. The poor but mineral-rich West African state has been under a military government since a September 2021 coup that ousted president Alpha Conde after more than 10 years in power. A similar timeframe was agreed between ECOWAS and the junta in neighboring Mali after months of wrangling.