Guinea junta establishes council to lead transition to elections

By Saliou Samb

CONAKRY (Reuters) – Guinea’s junta on Saturday set up an 80-member council to act as a parliament during the country’s transition to elections, according to a decree read on the state broadcaster, following a coup in September that ousted President Alpha Conde.

The body, known as the National Transitional Council (CNT), will be lead by a prominent civil society activist and election expert Dansa Kourouma and be tasked with agreeing the date of the next elections, the decree said.

Conde’s overthrow was condemned by Guinea’s neighbours and international partners, and led to its suspension from the African Union and the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) 15-nation bloc.

It was the fourth coup in West and Central Africa in the space of two years, following two in Mali and one in Chad. Conde had angered his opponents by changing the constitution to allow himself to stand for a third term.

(Reporting by Sasliou Samb; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Daniel Wallis)