DAKAR, March 9 (Reuters) – Guinea’s main opposition leader said “direct resistance” to the country’s coup leader-turned-president was now the only way to bring about change after the government consolidated its position by dissolving 40 political parties.
President Mamady Doumbouya, a former special forces commander, seized power in 2021 and won a seven-year term as president in December in a result contested by his opponents. Legislative elections are expected in May in the West African nation, which is rich in bauxite and iron ore.
Guinea’s Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization said in a decree late on Friday that 40 parties’ headquarters and local offices would be closed and use of their logos, acronyms “and other distinctive signs” would be prohibited.
The decree said the parties had failed to meet legal obligations such as filing financial statements; several of the dissolved political parties have protested, maintaining they had fulfilled all legal requirements.
In a video statement published on social media on Sunday, Guinea’s main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo said “war has been openly declared” on Doumbouya’s challengers.
He called on Guineans to engage in “direct resistance”, without specifying what exactly that should look like. And he said political change would not happen through dialogue or democratic processes.
“The head of the junta and his malevolent clique want to rewrite the country’s history by erasing from the political landscape all forces likely to overshadow his nascent one-party state,” he said.
A government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Diallo is in exile outside the country, as is former President Alpha Conde, who Doumbouya toppled and whose party was also dissolved on Friday.
Guinea has a history of political violence, including during the 2020 election which Diallo said he had won. The December 2025 election was tightly controlled and unfolded without major security incidents.
(Reporting by Guinea newsroom; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
