Guinea’s junta has said it will not bow to pressure from West African leaders to allow ousted President Alpha Conde to leave the country.

 

Dozens of Guineans protested against sanctions levelled against their country as two West African presidents arrived for talks with coup leaders on Friday (September 17).

One sign says ECOWAS, that’s West Africa’s main regional bloc, “doesn’t decide for us”.

 

But it wasn’t only outside the airport in the capital Conakry where defiance was on show.

 

On Thursday (September 16), ECOWAS agreed to freeze the financial assets of the junta and their relatives, and bar them from traveling.

 

The next day presidents Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast and Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo arrived in Guinea.

 

They were asking for Conde’s release.

 

But on state television the junta, which seized power two weeks ago, said: “The former president is and remains in Guinea. We will not yield to any pressure.”

 

After talks with coup leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, Akufo-Addo said they had held “honest, brotherly meetings” and that he was confident Guinea and ECOWAS would find a way to “walk together.”

 
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