The Former Vice President of The Gambia, Fatoumatta Jallow Tambajang is among various civil society leaders currently in Guinea Conakry holding talks with the junta leaders. Their meeting with the military men is aimed at returning the country back to civilian rule following the ousting of former President Alpha Conde.
The delegation to Conakry is dispatched by Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), a well known civil society group in Africa. Whilst in Conakry Former Vice President Tambajang and team are holding high profile talks with Junta Leader Col Mamady Doumbouya, Leader of the CNRD Transition, and other relevant Guinean stakeholders. The talks will be centred around ways of retuning to civilian rule. Head of an Elite Special Forces Unit, Colonel Doumbouya and his men stormed the presidential palace in the capital Conakry and arrested President Conde before announcing a takeover.
The CSO Leaders’ visit is meant to intensify efforts by sub-regional groups to set the country back on democratic rule. The West African nation has been rocked by multiple waves of violence over disputed elections among other factors. The team is also expected to help diffuse the growing sense of political uncertainty and tension in Guinea.
The military leaders have unveiled a transition charter, promising to return the country back to democratic rule, however there is widespread sense of uncertainty in Conakry.
The charter, read out on national television, sets out an intriguing task, including the drafting of a new constitution and the conduct of free, fair and transparent democratic elections. The Charter, although does not disclose how long the transition will last, according to AFP News Agency.
The new charter identifies four institutions/figures that will be in charge of the transition process.
They are the National Rallying Committee for Development (CNRD) established by the military and headed by Colonel Mahamady Doumbouya; the president of the transition, who will also serve as the head of the CNRD, head of state and armed forces chief; a government headed by a civilian prime minister; and a legislative body called the National Transition Council or CNT.
No member of these institutions will be allowed to take part in either national or local elections, which will be organized at the end of the transition period”.
Meanwhile ECOWAS is demanding that elections be held within six months. The regional bloc also wants the military to unconditionally release former president Alpha Conde who has not been seen in public since he was removed from office.
