Opposition falls silent as junta leader tightens grip on power

Mamady Doumbouya has led the country since a 2021 coup. Some fear he has no intention of relinquishing power

- Eromo Egbejule CONAKRY

A cross Guinea's capital, Conakry, billboards proclaim the people's loyalty to Mamady Doumbouya, the general who has led the west African country since a coup in 2021.

The iconography is omnipresent. Along the Fidel Castro highway, posters hang on poles that rise out of piles of rubbish. Near the grand mosque, one poster is accompanied by the gnomic inscription: "Your silence is precious, your eyes reassuring." Another, an image of him shaking Xi Jinping's hand at a meeting in Beijing in September, has the caption: "Welcome back Mamady Doumbouya, our pride."

For many in Guinea's political opposition and civil society, the reverential messaging is a distraction from the junta's increasingly authoritarian exercise of power and an ominous sign that Doumbouya has no intention of relinquishing power.

"Each of us is afraid for his own safety," said Abdoulaye Kourouma, the head of the opposition Rally for Renaissance and Development party. "Whether you are a scientist, a university scholar, a leader of opinion, a very good journalist, no one speaks today."

Many people initially welcomed the coup that deposed Alpha Condé, who had controversially altered the constitution in 2020 to enable him to serve a third five-year term. The new military leaders initially pledged to hold a constitutional referendum and hand power to elected civilians by the end of 2024. But neither promise was fulfilled, and in the meantime a steady flow of opposition figures and civil society members have been detained or brought before the courts.