Mary Onyia
There are reports that Guinea’s President Alpha Condé has been reportedly arrested by coup plotters following insinuations of a coup in the West African country. Even as the defence minister was quoted as saying that the coup has been aborted.
Early Sunday morning there were sounds of heavy gunfire near the presidential palace in the capital, Conakry, causing the terrified and frightened residents of the central Kaloun district to hide in their homes. Soldiers , reports say, are patrolling the deserted streets of the city centre.
Consequently, the soldiers have ordered the closure of all land and air borders and the government dissolved.
According to Reuters News Agency, the only bridge connecting the mainland to the Kaloum peninsular, which houses most ministries and the presidential palace, has been sealed off and many soldiers, some heavily armed, have been posted around the palace.
Several sources also say an elite national army unit led by a former French legionnaire, Mamady Doumbouya, was behind the unrest.
83-year-old Conde won a controversial third term in October amid violent protest, after tampering with the constitution.