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21-01-2026
CONAKRY: Mamady Doumbouya, a general who led a 2021 military takeover in Guinea, has been sworn in as the West African country’s president.
The Saturday event, which took place in front of tens of thousands of supporters and several heads of state, came after Doumbaya was declared the victor in last month’s election.
The vote was the first since Doumbouya toppled President Alpha Conde four years ago.
Although he initially pledged not to run for president after seizing power, Doumbouya ultimately stood for election against eight other candidates. However, his most prominent opponents remained in exile, with the opposition calling for a boycott of the poll.
The West African country’s Supreme Court later said Doumbouya received 86.7 percent of the vote.
Dressed in a traditional gown, Doumbouya swore an oath to uphold the constitution which had recently been altered to allow him to stand during an hours-long ceremony at the General Lansana Conte Stadium on the outskirts of the capital, Conakry.
“I swear before God and before the people of Guinea, on my honor, to respect and faithfully enforce the Constitution, the laws, regulations and judicial decisions,” he said.
Heads of state from Rwanda, The Gambia, Senegal and other African countries joined the event, as did the vice presidents of China, Nigeria, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, as well as officials from France and the United States.
Assimi Goita, a general who has led neighboring Mali since a military takeover in 2020, was also in attendance.
The election came after Guineans approved a new constitution in September that permitted members of the military leadership to run for office. It also lengthened presidential terms from five to seven years, setting a two-term limit.
Doumbouya has said the military takeover was justified due to alleged corruption and economic mismanagement under Conde, who in 2010 became the country’s first freely elected president since its 1958 independence.
During four years in power, the military dissolved state institutions and suspended the constitution, as it negotiated with regional bodies, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), over a return to democratic civilian government. Doumbouya has cracked down on civil liberties, banned protests and targeted political opponents during his time as leader.
With about 52 percent of the population living in poverty, he has promised to tap the country’s vast natural resources, which include untapped iron ore deposits, as well as the world’s largest bauxite reserves.
The former Special Forces commander, aged 41, faces eight other candidates in the election, as ousted President Alpha Conde and longtime opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo remain in exile.
The opposition has called for a boycott of the vote in the mineral-rich country where 52 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to World Bank figures.
While long blighted by coups, Guinea experienced a democratic transition with the November 2010 election of Alpha Conde, the country’s first freely elected president. Doumbouya overthrew him in September 2021.
Under Doumbouya, Guinea effectively “reverted to what it has essentially known since independence in 1958; authoritarian regimes, whether civilian or military”, Gilles Yabi, founder of the West African think tank Wathi, told media. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
