Ousted Guinean President Alpha Condé returned to Guinea on Friday following a stay in the United Arab Emirates for treatment, the ruling junta in Conakry announced on Friday.
Mr. Condé “returned to Conakry this followingnoon following medical treatment in the United Arab Emirates”, according to a statement read on state television on behalf of the National Rally and Development Committee (CNRD), the governing body of the junta, and its leader, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya.
At the head of the country for nearly 11 years, Mr. Condé was overthrown on September 5, 2021 by Colonel Doumbouya, who has since been invested as President of the Republic.
“The former president will remain in Guinea as long as his health permits. His integrity and dignity will always be respected in accordance with his rank and status,” assures the CNRD.
Mr. Condé, 84, had left the country in mid-January for medical examinations. The junta is said to have been reluctant to let him go abroad, fearing plots on his part once morest the new power.
The former president returns to Conakry while his party, the Rassemblement du peuple de Guinée (RPG), from which he stood aside, denounced on Thursday what he described as “arbitrary actions” and ” of relentlessness” of the authorities towards him.
The day before, a former Prime Minister, Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, and three ex-ministers, all in office under his presidency, had been charged with alleged embezzlement of public funds and imprisoned, becoming the last personalities of the former power to be worried by justice since the September 2021 coup.
