Daily Times

Col Mamady Doumbouya has been sworn is as Guinea’s interim president after leading a coup which saw the overthrow of Alpha Condé.

The former French legionnaire, 41, becomes Africa’s second-youngest leader, after Mali’s Assimi Goïta, 38, who also staged a military takeover.

Col Doumbouya is barred from contesting future elections under plans to restore civilian rule announced this week. The 5 September coup has been widely condemned. Both West Africa body Ecowas and the African Union have suspended Guinea.

Speaking at the Mohammed V palace in Conakry, the new president said his mission was to “refound the state” by writing a new constitution, tackling corruption, changing the electoral system and putting in place “free, credible and transparent” elections, according to the AFP news agency. Guinea’s military junta has not specified how long it would take to organise elections. But it says anyone taking part in the interim government, which will have a civilian prime minister, will be barred from standing. The military coup leaders detained Condé, 83, after their takeover, with Col Doumbouya assuring French media he was with them in a “safe place.”