After trying to extend his stay in the United Arab Emirates, Alpha Condé had to return to Guinea, under pressure from the country's military leaders.
Did former Guinean President Alpha Condé fail in his exile attempt? While he was in the United Arab Emirates for health reasons, the former head of state did everything to stay there and never return to Conakry. Finally, he landed last Friday. Is Alpha Condé condemned to stay in Guinea?
Affected by a coup on September 5, Alpha Condé quickly began a showdown with the military junta: the president formally refused to sign his resignation, while ECOWAS demanded his release. And when he had to have his hip treated, Alpha Condé was refused his request to be hospitalized in Côte d'Ivoire. Guinean military authorities and Emirati leaders finally reached an agreement to welcome Alpha Condé in mid-January.
Alpha Condé then had a month to seek treatment. A deadline that had been extended. And while the Guinean military had ensured the return of Condé and that the latter had managed to be forgotten, a recording of the former Guinean president, who called on his supporters to put themselves in battle order, leaked. Letting believe in an attempt to launch a counter-coup of the United Arab Emirates.
In the end, it only took a few days for Alpha Condé to fall into line. Despite attempts by Alpha Condé's entourage to extend the ex-head of state's stay for medical complications, Condé ended up returning home.
The recording that started it all
But this does not mean that Alpha Condé did not try to remain, on the spot, in exile. To be certain that the former president returns to the fold, the military put pressure on him. What is notably passed by a summons from the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which expressly asked him to leave the premises.
Alpha Condé then tried to fly to another destination, indicates Jeune Afrique, which assures that the Republic of Congo has once again offered to welcome him. Which the UAE refused. Because an agreement between Mamadi Doumbouya and the Emirates has apparently been made. And the United Arab Emirates had the mission to send Alpha Condé back to Guinea, and nowhere else.
At the end of March, the Guinean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Morissanda Kouyaté, had asked the Emirates to accelerate the repatriation of Alpha Condé, the latter representing according to him "a real threat to peace and stability in Guinea". The Guinean soldiers also believe that Alpha Condé "violated the terms of the letter of commitment signed by ECOWAS, as well as the spirit of the humanitarian action that the president of the transition voluntarily took in his favor".
Alpha Condé will certainly now have to explain himself on the recording which has been widely distributed. If he is under continuous surveillance, the president cannot hope, in the coming weeks, for an easing of his conditions of detention.