Former Guinean president heads to UAE for treatment

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Former Guinean President Alpha Conde, who was ousted last year in a military coup, left the country Monday for treatment in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, an official said.

“Everything had been settled, including his passport and his companions...He left for an Arab country,” an official from the National Rallying Committee for Development (CNRD) set up by the military junta told the media.

His flight took off from Ahmed Sekou Toure International Airport in the capital Conakry in the early afternoon.

The transitional government on Dec. 31 authorized Conde to travel abroad for a medical checkup not exceeding one month, which could be increased depending on the advice of his doctors.

Since his overthrow, Conde had been under house arrest.

The 83-year-old became Guinea's first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015.

In 2020, he pushed through constitutional changes that allowed him to run for a controversial third term, which he won in an election dismissed as a sham by the opposition.

Mass demonstrations erupted after the vote in which dozens of protesters were reported killed.