The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) in Guinea vows to defy a ban on public demonstrations and send its members on the streets on 16 February.By Aboubacar Siddy Diallo

 The capital Conakry is likely to be shaken by the “peaceful” march planned by the FNDC for next Thursday. 

There is growing fear over the risk of clashes between the security forces and protesters. 

At least two people were shot dead during the last demonstration against the military junta on August 17, 2022, a tragic consequence that does not deter the determination of many Guineans who call for an end to the transition and respect for the Guinean constitution. 

However, several political leaders have been placed under judicial supervision after coming out in support of the latest FNDC demonstrations.

 The spokesman of the transitional government, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, responded with non-chalance when asked on Wednesday about the new call for demonstrations by the FNDC, which was dissolved in August 2022. 

He said: “Let them (FNDC) say what they want, I’m not interested”, he said about the threat by his former comrades to take to the streets.

Diallo was a member of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), a major opposition force in Guinea led by Cellou Dalein Diallo, before his expulsion on June 1, 2022. 

Appointed government spokesman, Diallo, a former deputy of the eighth legislature did not pass up the opportunity to attack his former comrades in the opposition with whom he fought the regime of President Alpha Conde, deposed in September 2021, months after his re-election for a third controversial term.

 “I belonged to an organisation that was acting responsibly in this country, that was waging a real fight. We were here on the ground. I did not fly to Dinguiraye, Nzérékoré or Gaoual to tell what I want,” Ousmane Gaoual Diallo said.

Since May 13, 2022, the National Committee of the Rally for Development (CNRD), the body that leads the junta since the 2021 coup that installed Colonel Mamady Doumbouya as Guinea’s leader, has decided to ban all demonstrations “likely to compromise social peace and the proper implementation of activities contained in the chronogram (of the transition) for now until the election campaign periods.”

 The Guinean government spokesman defended the validity of the ban without giving further details and advised his compatriots to refrain from any protest but instead contribute to the success of the transition.