Abubakar Hashim
Mamadi Doumbouya, 41, former military head of state since staging a coup in September 2021, today, was inaugurated as the 5th President of Guinea.
All the Presidents in West Africa, including Joseph Boakai of Liberia, Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, were in attendance. Nigeria was represented by VP Kashim Shetima, as President Bola Tinubu is in the UAE.
President Doumbouya called for a unified strategy for development, placing emphasis on the youth and women empowerment.
He won a landslide by 86.7% votes, mainly from the youths, who are in full support of his developmental programs, particularly infrastructure, education, and health facilities.
Today marks a turning point in the democratic credentials of ECOWAS, in view of the current coup trends in the region, with six coups since 2020.
Guinea refused to join Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to pull out of ECOWAS, insisting on a transition table, which climaxed into the inauguration of a civilian President today.
The country is rich in mineral resources, the world’s third largest producer and exporter of bauxite, used to produce aluminium and other sensitive aerospace equipment.
The Man Doumbouya
Doumbouya was born on 5 December 1984 in the Kankan Region of Guinea. He is of Mandinka origins.He attended primary school at the Dramé Oumar school.
As contained in different biographical writings, aggregated by Wikipedia, Doumbouya was a French legionnaire holding the rank of corporal until the end of his contract in 2009.
He returned to Guinea in 2011, where he was posted to the Centre d’instruction d’infanterie of Camp Kwamé Krumah first as instructor and then as Director of studies. He received unit commander training in Senegal and then was posted to Kindia’s Centre d’instruction d’infanterie.
In 2018, Doumbouya was named head of the Special Forces Group, an elite military unit created by President Alpha Condé. When he took office, receiving promotion to the rank of battalion commander, his international experience was cited, including training he had completed in a number of different countries. In 2018, he met Assimi Goïta, from Mali, in Burkina Faso at a US Army training session for regional special forces commanders. Both he and Assimi Goïta would later launch military coups against their governments. He worked in this role for country’s intelligence services, based in Forécariah. He was further promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2019 and to colonel in 2020. In 2021, he was said to have been seeking more authority for the Special Forces Group.During his presidency, he was promoted to general in 2024 and at the same time, resigned from his command of the Special Forces Group.
Doumbouya was deployed on missions to Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Central African Republic, Israel, Cyprus, the UK and Guinea, during his 15-year career.
Doumbouya was the instigator of the 5 September 2021 Guinean coup d’état, in which the president of Guinea, Alpha Condé, was detained. Doumbouya issued a broadcast on state television declaring that his faction had dissolved the government and constitution. He also said that the “National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD), [was forced] to take its responsibility” after “the dire political situation of our country, the instrumentalization of the judiciary, the non-respect of democratic principles, the extreme politicization of public administration, as well as poverty and corruption.” In justifying the military’s actions, Doumbouya quoted the former Ghanaian president Jerry Rawlings, who said that “if the people are crushed by their elites, it is up to the army to give the people their freedom.”
After taking power, he forced office holders to attend his first meeting, lest they be considered rebels.Then during his broadcast he would announce that ex-president Alpha Condé would not be released and that they would still give him healthcare. Doumbouya downplayed possible economic sanctions by ECOWAS, saying through a spokesman that “as soldiers, their work is in Guinea and there is nothing to freeze in their accounts.” The ECOWAS representatives also urged the junta to allow ousted president Condé to leave Guinea; the junta has refused to do so.
On 1 October 2021, Doumbouya was sworn in as interim president at Mohammed V Palace [fr] in Conakry. He announced plans to “refound the state” introducing “free, credible and transparent” elections and respecting “all the national and international commitments to which the country has subscribed”.
On Mali’s 62nd anniversary of independence, Doumbouya met with Malian president Assimi Goïta in which he was welcomed by him. They discussed about many issues during his visit.
Doumbouya met with Paul Kagame of Rwanda in Guinea; the first such meeting with a foreign head of state since the 2021 Guinean coup d’état. Doumbouya was inspired by Kagame to reform and reconcile his nation like Kagame did to Rwanda.
On 19 February 2024, Doumbouya and the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development ordered the dissolution of the interim government in preparation of the new presidential elections to be held on a later date.
Under Doumbouya’s rule, the 2025 Guinean constitutional referendum was held on 21 September, with around 89% of voters approving a proposed new constitution. On 3 November, Doumbouya submitted his candidacy for the 2025 Guinean presidential election scheduled on 28 December. He won the election with 86.72% of the vote. Mamady Doumbouya was inaugurated on 17 January 2026 which ended the military junta in Guinea.
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