Guinea has dissolved 40 political parties, including the country’s three main opposition groups, in a late-night decree issued less than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president.
Doumbouya, who has ruled Guinea with an iron grip, was elected in late December in a vote from which all major opposition leaders were barred.
Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralisation ordered the parties dissolved late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations”. The decree also stripped them of control of their assets.
Among the groups targeted were the country’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) founded by former president Alpha Condé, and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR).
“This dissolution entails the immediate loss of the legal personality and status of the parties concerned,” the order said.
It also bans “all political activities” and 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 the final recipient.
Doumbouya, 41, seized power in 2021 when he toppled Condé, Guinea’s first freely elected president.
Since then, authorities have tightened restrictions on civil liberties and banned protests. Political opponents have been arrested, prosecuted or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have increased.
Guinea has experienced repeated periods of military and authoritarian rule since gaining independence in 1958.
AFP
