Mamadi Doumbouya: Africa does not need lessons from the West

During the United Nations General Assembly, the Guinean president delivered a pro-Africa speech and asked the West to speak as equals with Africa.

It was a strong speech delivered during the United Nations General Assembly by the Guinean head of state Mamadi Doumbouya. If many representatives of African countries took the podium at the United Nations, the colonel was undoubtedly the most striking man, evoking the unbalanced relations between Africa and the West.

Few presidents dare to say that the model of governance in African countries was “imposed” by the West. Doumbouya dared, and he made a precise observation: “Africa suffers from a model of governance that has been imposed on us, a model that is certainly good and effective for the West, which has designed it throughout its history, but who has difficulty moving on and adapting to our reality,” he said, affirming that “the graft has not taken” in Africa.

But the head of the Guinean junta above all wanted to put the continent at the center of the debate, saying out loud what many are thinking: Africa does not want to be a lever in the tense relations between the United States, Europe , Russia and China. “We are neither pro, nor anti-American, nor pro, nor anti-Chinese, nor pro, nor anti-French, nor pro, nor anti-Russian,” he said. We're just pro-African, that's all.”

“Daddy’s Africa, old Africa, it’s over”

And Doumbouya asks the West to stop the blackmail: “Putting us under the control of this or that power is an insult to a population of more than a billion Africans, including around 70% of totally uninhibited young people. Young people open to the world and determined to take charge of their destiny.” The colonel explains that the international community must look at “Africa with new eyes” and now think about a “win-win partnership”.

Doumbouya's speech was, finally, a speech addressed to those who believe that coups d'état are a departure from democracy. “The real putschists, the most numerous, who are not the subject of any condemnation, are also those who scheme, who use deceit, who cheat to manipulate the texts of the Constitution in order to remain in power eternally”, he affirmed, speaking without naming them about deposed or still current presidents in Africa.

A way of reminding us that Western interference in Africa must stop. “Daddy’s Africa, old Africa, it’s over. It's time to take into account our rights, to give ourselves our place. But also and above all the moment to stop lecturing us, to look down on us, to stop treating us like children,” concluded a widely applauded Doumbouya.