Guinea dissolved 40 political parties, including its three main opposition groups, via a late-night decree, fewer than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president.
Doumbouya, who has ruled Guinea with an iron fist, was elected in late December in a vote in which all major opposition leaders were barred.
Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralisation ordered the dissolution of the parties late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations”.
The decree also stripped them of control of their assets.
Included are Guinea’s three main political parties — the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) led by Cellou Dalein Diallo, the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG) led by ex-president Alpha Conde, and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR).
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“This dissolution entails the immediate loss of the legal personality and status of the parties concerned”, the order said.
That includes “all political activities” as well as the use of “acronyms, logos, emblems and other distinctive symbols” associated with the groups.
The parties’ assets have been placed under “sequestration” with a curator appointed to oversee their transfer, the decree said, without specifying to whom or what entity.
Doumbouya, 41, came to power in 2021 when he toppled Conde, Guinea’s first freely elected president.
Since then, he has cracked down on civil liberties and banned protests.
Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial, or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied.
Guinea has had a complex history of military and authoritarian rule since its 1958 independence.
AFP