Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended Guinea’s membership, days after a military coup overthrew President Alpha Conde.
Gatekeepers News reports that Conde was arrested by special forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya on Sunday and also “dissolved” the country’s institutions.
On Wednesday, the ECOWAS leaders announced their decision to suspend Guinea during an extraordinary virtual summit and demanded a return to the constitutional order and the immediate release of Conde.
The ECOWAS leaders also resolved to send a high-level mission to Guinea on Thursday.
“At the end of that mission, ECOWAS should be able to re-examine its position,” Alpha Barry, Burkina Faso’s foreign minister, told reporters in Ouagadougou after the meeting.
Conde, 83, in 2010 became the first democratically elected president and was re-elected in 2015.
Last year, Conde pushed through a constitutional change to allow himself to run for a third term, a move that was criticised by his opponents who tagged it ‘illegal’.
