African Union suspends Guinea after coup — Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya (C), head of the Army’s special forces and coup leader, waves to the crowd as he arrives at the Palace of the People in Conakry on September 6, 2021, ahead of a meeting with the Ministers of the Ex-President of Guinea, Alpha Conde. – Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the leader of the latest coup in Guinea, is a highly educated, combat-hardened soldier who once served in France’s Foreign Legion. Doumbouya’s special forces on September 5, 2021 seized Alpha Conde, the West African state’s 83-year-old president, a former champion of democracy accused of taking the path of authoritarianism. (Photo by CELLOU BINANI / AFP)

The African Union said on Friday it was suspending Guinea after a coup in the West African country that saw its president Alpha Conde arrested.
The pan-African body said on Twitter that it “decides to suspend the Republic of Guinea from all AU activities and decision-making bodies”.

The move came after Guinean special forces seized power on Sunday and arrested Conde, who had come under increasing fire for perceived authoritarianism.

The AU had on Sunday condemned the military takeover and called for the release of Conde, who became the country’s first democratically elected president in 2010.

Its decision to suspend Guinea came after a similar move on Wednesday by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has sent a mission to the country to evaluate the situation there.