ON October 20 in Guinea, a protest organised by the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution took place. The protesters demanded the ruling military government, the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD), release political detainees and sought to establish a framework for a return to civilian rule.  

They were met with violence from the security forces, and in Guinea’s capital Conakry at least five people were injured and three died from gunshot wounds. The main violence was in Ratoma, one of the poorest areas in the city.

In September 2021, the CNRD, led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, overthrew the government of Alpha Conde, which had been in power for more than a decade and was steeped in corruption.  

In 2020, then-president Conde’s son Alpha Mohamed and his minister of defence Mohamed Diane were accused of bribery in a complaint that the Collective for the Transition in Guinea filed with the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. The complaint alleges that these men received bribes from an international consortium in exchange for bauxite mining rights near the city of Boke.

Boke in north-west Guinea is the epicentre of the country’s bauxite mining industry. With an estimated 7.4 billion metric tons, Guinea has the world’s largest reserves of bauxite, an essential mineral for aluminium production, making it the second-largest producer of bauxite after Australia.

All the mining in Guinea is controlled by multinational firms, such as Alcoa from the US, Hongqiao from China and the Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto Alcan, which operate in association with Guinean state entities.

When the CNRD under Doumbouya seized power, one of the main issues at stake was control over the bauxite revenues.  

In April 2022, Doumbouya assembled the major mining companies and told them that by the end of May they had to provide a road map for the creation of bauxite refineries in Guinea or else exit the country.  

Doumbouya said: “Despite the mining boom in the bauxite sector, it is clear that the expected revenues are below expectations. We can no longer continue this fool’s game that perpetuates great inequality” between Guinea and the international companies. The deadline was extended to June and the ultimatum’s demands to co-operate or leave are ongoing.

Doumbouya’s CNRD in Guinea, like the military governments in Burkina Faso and Mali, came to power amid popular sentiment fed up with the oligarchies in their country and with French rule.  

Doumbouya’s 2017 comments in Paris reflect that latter sentiment. He said that French military officers who come to Guinea “underestimate the human and intellectual capacities of Africans... They have haughty attitudes and take themselves for the colonist who knows everything, who masters everything.”  

This coup government — formed out of an elite force created by Conde to fight terrorism — has captured the frustrations of the population, but is unable to construct a viable agenda to exit the country’s dependence on foreign mining companies. In the meantime, the protests for a return to democracy are unlikely to be quelled.

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian and the author of Washington Bullets (LeftWord Books, 2020) and Red Star Over the Third World (Pluto Press, 2019) among others.

This article was produced by Globetrotter.