Guinea’s capital Conakry ground to a halt Thursday as a protest movement which left one dead a day earlier marked three years since the military seized power in a coup.The opposition in the West African nation has called for a peaceful protest to denounce the junta’s crackdown on dissent and to demand a return to civilian rule by the end of the year.However, the opposition continues to face brutal repression by the military-led authorities, who took power on September 5, 2021.Junta chief Mamady Doumbouya has since been sworn in as president and promoted to general.Conakry’s streets were practically deserted early Thursday, an AFP reporter saw, as torrential rain poured down on the capital.The junta banned all demonstrations in 2022, with the clampdown on dissent leaving at least 47 people dead between September 2021 and April 2024, according to Amnesty International.On Wednesday, a woman was fatally shot while in a taxi during clashes between police and protesters in the Sofonia area of Conakry.- ‘Disappointed and angry’ -Under international pressure, the junta had initially pledged to hand over power to elected civilians by the end of 2024. But it has since made little secret of its intention to renege on this commitment.Retired civil servant Malick Sidibe said he was “disappointed and angry” with Doumbouya, denouncing the junta chief’s backtrack on the pledge.”It is unacceptable that a colonel, now a general, cannot keep his promise without any pressure”, he said.Ansoumane Camara, a doctor, expressed similar disappointment.”I don’t have the words to explain our president’s about-turn,” he told AFP, but said he believed the country’s leader could “still pull off some (good) surprises”.General Doumbouya is currently in China for a summit along with a host of other African leaders.No official activities are planned for the three-year anniversary of the junta’s takeover of power, which toppled civilian president Alpha Conde who had ruled for more than 10 years.- Opposition disappearance -Under Doumbouya’s rule, many opposition leaders in Guinea have been detained, brought before the courts or forced into exile.Two leading anti-junta activists, Oumar Sylla, better known as Fonike Mengue, and Mamadou Billo Bah, have been missing since July 9.Their pro-democracy movement said the pair were brutally arrested by armed men and have denounced their disappearance as a “kidnapping”.Guinea’s public prosecutor has denied any arrests and ordered investigations into the disappearance of the two men.Their wives published an open letter on Thursday “calling on the people of Guinea and the international community to see the clear desire of the ruling junta to eliminate our husbands”.They asked the junta leader for access to the men.In a rare reaction from the international community, the US embassy in Conakry said in late August that it was “deeply concerned about the disappearance and welfare” of the two pro-democracy campaigners.Speaking on the three-year anniversary of the military coup, analyst Vincent Foucher wrote on X: “On the diplomatic front, the junta has inherited a diversified portfolio, with several major partners: France, USA, China, Russia and Turkey, as well as the UAE and Rwanda”.”This diversity gives the junta room to manoeuvre. France refrains from criticising the junta’s excesses to avoid being dismissed as it was in the Sahel. Hence its silence”, wrote Foucher, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.On May 22, the authorities withdrew the licences of four of Guinea’s leading private radio stations and two television channels.In the latest in a string of crackdowns, the junta on Monday suspended the issuing of licences to associations and NGOS, citing “public order disturbance activities being carried out on the ground by several NGOs and social movements”.
