In Guinea, what does the FNCD still weigh?

Created to prevent a constitutional revision, the FNDC alternately opposed Alpha Condé and the military regime currently in power, which banned it. Yesterday, the FNDC organized a demonstration in the streets of Conakry.

In Guinea, the departure of Alpha Condé from power obviously did not put an end to the actions of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC). After the constitutional amendment of March 2020, the FNDC had turned into a movement of opposition to the Guinean president, whose ambitions for a third term it denounced. In September 2021, a coup ousted Alpha Condé from power. A year and a half later, the FNDC focused on new fights. And once again talk about him this Thursday.

With around sixty arrests and as many injuries, the demonstration organized yesterday by the FNDC gave rise to violence. A demonstration which had been banned by the transitional authorities and which had required the requisition of the army. Suffice to say that we had to expect overflows. Journalists were also reportedly targeted by security forces. The FNDC indicates that two people died.

Goals that have evolved

Despite its ban, the FNDC still seems to have some influence. He succeeded in mobilizing in the neighborhoods of the suburbs of Conakry, from Kagbélen to Sonfonia, via Cosa and Bambéto. After the constitutional amendment, the FNDC assured that its "objective has not changed", asking for a return to the 2010 Constitution. Ibrahima Diallo, responsible for operations within the movement, asked above all "the departure of President Alpha Condé". What is done. So, does the FNDC have other demands?

In reality, the movement has transformed over time. If he found his raison d'être in the organization of the controversial constitutional referendum, he gradually took hold of the social demands of Guineans. Soaring food prices, unemployment or corruption… The FNDC has become a kind of union.

Before that, he had gotten rid of his politicized fringe. The political parties that had joined the FNDC were excluded and confined to observer status, losing their weight in the decisions taken within the FNDC. The FNDC no longer wanted to suffer from the inconsistencies of political movements, after certain opposition leaders had approached President Alpha Condé.

It is clear today that despite the end of its legal existence, the FNDC has managed to survive over time. If it is less mobilizing than in 2021, the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution still manages to bring young people out into the streets, as was the case yesterday.