Guinea's ruling junta has suspended three of the country's main parties for "90 days," including those of former President Alpha Condé and former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, according to a decision seen by AFP on Saturday, a new crackdown by the military ahead of the September 21 constitutional referendum.

This decision by the Ministry of Territorial Administration was made public as the main parties and civil society organisations in the West African country called on 10 August for demonstrations starting on 5 September to denounce, according to them, a desire to seize power on the part of the head of the junta, General Mamadi Doumbouya.

The Guinean opposition has condemned the holding of a referendum on a new constitution on September 21, called by General Doumbouya, who came to power in September 2021 after overthrowing civilian President Alpha Condé, who had been in power for more than 10 years.

The start of the referendum campaign, initially scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed until August 31, according to a decree read Friday evening on public television. This postponement reduces the campaign from one month to three weeks.

The junta has banned all protests since 2022 and has arrested, prosecuted, or driven into exile a number of opposition leaders.

The parties affected by the suspension are the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG) of former President Condé, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) of former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo and the Party for Renewal and Progress (PRP) of Rafiou Sow, according to the text from the Ministry of Territorial Administration.

"These parties have not fulfilled the obligations prescribed to them. They are expressly prohibited from holding demonstrations or any other act of political propaganda, whether at the level of their national headquarters, their federations, sections, subsections or basic committees," said the same source.

The three groups were placed under "a 45-day reserve period" following an evaluation report, according to the ministry, which did not specify what they were accused of.

"three months" to regularize

In mid-March, the junta announced the suspension of 28 parties and the dissolution of 27 others. The RPG was among the suspended parties but was later able to resume its activities.

These parties have failed to meet their obligations to provide a bank account or to hold a congress over the past three months, justified the Minister of Territorial Administration, General Ibrahima Kalil Condé, during the presentation of an evaluation report concerning the country's political parties.

At the beginning of January, the military had already announced the suspension of parties "without authorization", citing the "need to clean up the political scene".

The three newly suspended parties "have three months from the date of notification of this decision to correct the deficiencies noted in their evaluation certifications," the ministry said in the decision published on Saturday.

At the end of this period, "if the corrections undertaken are deemed insufficient, partial or not in compliance with legal requirements, additional measures may be taken," he added, without giving further details.

At the end of June, a draft Constitution was presented to General Doumbouya.

This text is intended to pave the way for a return to the constitutional order promised by the military. The provisions of this draft Constitution do not explicitly provide any indication of whether General Doumbouya will be able to run in the next presidential election.

A "transitional charter" established by the junta shortly after the coup requires that no member of the junta, the government, or any head of the transitional institutions stand in the elections.

The adoption of a new Constitution could break this barrier in a country ruled for decades by dictatorial regimes.

AFP