Alpha Condé
Alpha Conde assumed office in 2010 after the country's first-ever democratic elections since its independence from France in 1958. His election ended two years of military rule during which security forces massacred more than 150 people in the capital, Conakry. Condé spent nearly three decades in exile in France, where he led the exiled opposition to Guinea's dictatorial first president Ahmed Sékou Touré.
Condé was born on 4 March 1938 in Boke in Lower Guinea. His parents were from Burkina Faso. Condé left for France at the age of 15, where he was active in the National Union of Higher Education (SNESUP), the Association of Guinean Students in France (AEGF), and the Federation of Black African Students in France (FEANF), of which he was claimed to be the Executive Coordinator of African National Groups (NG) from 1967 to 1975, overseeing the activities of the Directorate of FEANF. Condé wrote his 190 page master's thesis in political science, Le P.D.G. et le peuple de Guinée [The PDG and the people of Guinea], in 1965. Democratic Party of Guinea-African Democratic Rally is a political party in Guinea. For more than 25 years under Pres. Sékou Touré, Guinea was a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party of Guinea.
Guinea – one of the world's poorest countries despite boasting significant mineral resources – has long been beset by political instability. Led by Alpha Conde, the Rally for the Guinean People (RPG) political party was generally perceived to be the most radical of the opposition political parties. Its support base is predominantly Malinke with strong representation in Upper Guinea. Conde had been the chief critic of a succession of leaders: Ahmed Sekou Toure, who ruled from independence in 1958 until he died in 1984; Lansana Conte, who seized power in a coup after Toure’s death; and Moussa Dadis Camara, who led a coup after Conte’s death in 2008.
His advocacy earned him a death sentence under Toure, forcing him into exile in France, where he became an assistant professor of human rights at the Sorbonne. Conde won about 20% of the national vote in the 1997 presidential elections, and about 17% of the vote in the 2003 elections. Former President Conte threw Alpha Conde in jail shortly after the 2003 elections on charges of treason, for which Conde was later convicted. Conte pardoned Alpha Conde two years later.
Conde stated that former President Conte had been at the heart of Guinea's political troubles since 1991. He likened Conte to Mugabe, saying that one of the reasons he had spent so much time out of the country is because someone needed "to make the international community aware" of Guinea's political situation. Conde characterized his many meetings with the Guinean Diaspora and various international leaders as an effort to attract attention and marshal political support. Conde added that any former government officials who served in the Conte regime between 2003 and 2008 should be barred from taking positions in the new government since they are responsible for many of the country's current problems.
Guinea's first ever democratic election in 2010 went to a second round between Alpha Condé and former prime minister Celloun Dalein Diallo , which Condé narrowly won. Alpha Condé's election as president of Guinea in 2010 was viewed as a fresh start for the country after decades of authoritarian rule and political turmoil. But Condé’s controversial methods to remain in power earned him many enemies, who accuse the leader of drifting into authoritarianism himself.
Many saw his presidency as a new beginning, but opponents soon started to accuse him of failing to improve the lives of Guineans, most of whom live in poverty despite the country’s vast mineral riches. In 2011, he narrowly survived an assassination attempt when gunmen surrounded his home overnight and pounded his bedroom with rockets. Rocket-propelled grenades landed inside the compound and one of his bodyguards was killed.
In 2015, he was re-elected in a vote which opponents claimed was marred by fraud. As the end of his second term drew to a close, in 2020 Condé announced that Guinea’s constitutional two-term limit no longer applied and that he would seek a third term. The 83-year-old won a third term in the 2020 presidential election. His win came after he rammed through constitutional changes allowing him to sidestep the country's limit of two presidential terms. The opposition claimed the 2020 election was fraudulent, with dozens of people subsequently killed in anti-government protests. The third-term bid was the final nail in the coffin of his claims to be “Guinea’s Mandela” and risked chaos in the West African bauxite and iron ore producer.
In 2008, expounding at length about why coup d'etats are necessary in some countries, particularly in Africa, Conde said that a coup was the only way to assure security and civil order since Conte's death left a power vacuum. "It is an imperfect solution, but now we need to focus on the months ahead," he told Poloff. He acknowledged the international community's need to condemn coups, but said that after condemning, everyone should be helping Guinea to transition towards elections and a civilian government. Speaking rhetorically, Conde asked "I know you have to condemn, but I wonder...if there was a coup in Zimbabwe to overthrow Mugabe, would you condemn it too?"
The overthrow of President Alpha Conde on 05 September 2021 capped a steady slide from grace for the veteran opposition leader and human rights professor who critics say failed to live up to pledges to deliver democratic restoration and ethnic reconciliation. The overthrow of Conde capped a steady slide from grace for the veteran opposition leader and human rights professor who critics say failed to live up to pledges to deliver democratic restoration and ethnic reconciliation.
Alioune Tine, an independent human rights expert for the United Nations and founder of the AfrikaJom Center think-tank, said Conde’s refusal to cede power had made either a popular uprising or a coup inevitable. “Alpha Conde is one of the politicians who worked over 40 years for democracy in Guinea. Once in power, he totally destroyed it,” Tine said. “He put people in prison. He killed and he completely refused any political dialogue with the opposition.”
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