Peaceful Transition Agreement in Guinea Reached

Posted January 20, 2010 / ,

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara (L) shakes hands with General Sekouba Konate (R) as Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore looks on.

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara (L) shakes hands with General Sekouba Konate (R) as Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore looks on.

On January 15, 2010 Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, President of the National Council for the Democracy and the Development (CNDD) and President of the Republic of Guinea, General Sékouba Konaté, Vice-President of the CNDD and Interim President of the Republic of Guinea, and His Excellence, Mr. Blaise Compaore, President of Burkina Faso and ECOWAS-appointed mediator in the Guinea crisis, signed an agreement that paves the way for a transition to civilian rule.

The agreement lays out the nomination of a Prime Minister and President of Council Ministries from within the “Forces Vives” of Guinea, a coalition of groups within Guinea who opposed the CNDD’s rule in Guinea and suspension of constitutional law. Additionally the agreement outlines plans for presidential elections in the next six months and the formation of a national unity government. This path for a peaceful transition in Guinea is seen as a turning point for the country after nearly 13 months of the suspension of the Guinean constitution and a devastatingly violent response to a public demonstration on September 28, 2009 in which hundreds of unarmed civilians were killed by armed soldiers.

The BEFORE Project team started its prevention activities in Guinea more than 18 months ago. During that time BEFORE conducted an initial conflict assessment and a Consolidation of Peace Workshop for Guinean leaders and stakeholder with our partners. Watch a video on the Consolidation of Peace.

Since then BEFORE has been working with local, regional and international leaders and diplomats on the ever-evolving situation in Guinea on possible paths to peace and on the Peace Workshop recommendations of Guinean leaders for their own country. Read the Peace Workshop recommendations of local leaders here.

UPDATE: A February 2, 2010 front page story from the NY Times on the new hopes in Guinea. BEFORE staff is meeting with leaders of the new unity government on next steps on the peace agreement implementation.