Two officials responsible for the ongoing dispute in Guinea against a possible third term for President Alpha Condé were arrested on Friday by members of a security service and taken to an unknown destination, their entourage reported. Ibrahima Diallo and Sékou Koundouno gave a press conference earlier today to denounce the arbitrary arrests, said Abdoulaye Oumou Sow, spokesperson for the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), the collective to which they belong and who has been leading the protest movement for almost five months. The two men are presented as lieutenants of Abdourahmane Sanoh, coordinator of the FNDC.
Hooded men broke into Ibrahima Diallo's house and ransacked the premises, the spokesman said. "They entered the house and started ransacking everything. I tried to establish a dialogue but one of them pushed me violently, ” said Asmaou Diallo, wife of Ibrahima Diallo. The two men were then taken away, the wife and the spokesman reported, adding that they have not heard from them since. They claimed that the intervention was carried out by members of the Guinean security service's Intervention Brigade.
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Mamadou Camara, controller general and police spokesperson, said he was not "aware" . According to him, the BIS reports directly to the Prime Minister and not to the general directorate of the police.
In addition, the French journalist Thomas Dietrich was escorted back to the border after the cancellation of his accreditation, said the Minister of Security, citing in a press release "activities incompatible with (the) mission" of the journalist and interference in "Internal political activities likely to undermine public order" .
Guinea has been plagued since mid-October against the plan lent to President Condé to modify the Constitution in order to run for a third term at the end of 2020. At least 31 civilians and a gendarme have been killed at this stage. Alpha Condé, who maintains the vagueness about his intentions, has just postponed a constitutional referendum initially scheduled for March 1.