Lt. Col. Mamadi Dumbuya, leader of the last coup in Guinea, is a highly educated, battle-hardened soldier who once served in the French Foreign Legion. Dumbuy's special forces captured Alpha Conde, the 83-year-old president of a West African state and former democracy defender accused of authoritarianism, on Sunday.
Lieutenant Colonel Mamadi Dumbuya, leader of the last coup in Guinea, is a highly educated, battle-hardened soldier who once served in the French Foreign Legion. Dumbuy's special forces captured Alpha Conde, the 83-year-old president of a West African state and former democracy defender accused of authoritarianism, on Sunday.
In a red beret and sunglasses, Dumbuya announced the repeal of the constitution, the changes that allowed Conda to reach the fiercely contested third term. Later, with Dumbuya's state flag but no dark glasses, he promised to oversee “a comprehensive peace transition.” “There have been many deaths. In vain, many wounded, many tears, “he said, referring to Conde's bloody suppression of the protests.
“If people are suppressed by their elite, the military must give people freedom,” Dumbuya said, citing the late Ghanaian leader Jerry Rawlings, who came to power in a 1981 coup before the transition to democracy.
Dumbuya is a forty-year career officer with a master's degree in defense and industrial dynamics from the Pantheon-Assass University in Paris, trained at the French military academy Ecole de Guerre and a member of the legendary Foreign Legion.
His career has taken part in missions in Afghanistan and the very turbulent Central African Republic.
His unit, a special forces group, was formed in 2018. Dumbuya comes from Cancan in eastern Guinea and, like Conde, comes from the Malinke ethnic group, also known as Mandinka.
According to Guinean media reports, he is married to a French woman and has three children.
“We are not here to enjoy power, we are not here to play, we will learn from all the mistakes we have made,” the coup leader told France 24, referring to past coups.
In September 2009, soldiers killed opposition supporters at a stadium in the capital, Conakry. At least 157 people died and 109 women were raped.
On Sunday, Dumbuya said: “We will no longer trust politics with one person, we will trust politics with the people.”
Dumbuya spoke out against corruption and waste and pledged to restore peace in a repressed country. However, diplomats and local media said the main reason for the coup could be the government's clash with the Ministry of Defense's control over the special forces.