Deadline for Guinea military to begin government transition

The military governed West African state of Guinea faces a deadline from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to transition the government to constitutional order today.

Current interim President Mamady Doumbouya–the 2021 coup’s architect–promised to establish a democratic government of national unity without providing a date for implementation.

ECOWAS suspended Guinea from the block and sanctioned military junta memebrs who were involved in the coup along with their family members. ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Mali’s military junta that involved border closures with neighboring states to cut Mali’s financial and commercial flow with its neighboring countries. Guinea’s junta kept the borders open with Mali, disregarding ECOWAS directives. The US also cut off Guinea and Mali from the Africa duty-free trade program, taking away their trade access to the US market.

Guinea is likely to receive more sanctions from the AU and ECOWAS if Doumbouya and his junta do not comply with their directives. Sanctions could highly likely include border closures with Guinea, since guinea is the only state with open borders to Mali. The military juntas of Mali and Guinea will likely seek economic support from Russia after losing US foreign aid. Russia, their only resourceful ally currently, will likely provide the needed assistance as it could not compete with US foreign aid before.