Guinea opposition party says one of its officials abducted

FILE - Guinea's President Mamadi Doumbouya addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, on Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

A high-level member of a main opposition party in Guinea was abducted from her home in the capital, her party said Saturday, the latest disappearance in a country accustomed to kidnappings of junta opponents.

Nene Oussou Diallo, a member of the UFDG party’s national executive bureau, was taken by “uniformed agents wearing balaclavas and arriving in unregistered pickup trucks” from her home in Conakry on Friday morning, the party said in a statement.

“Given the modus operandi, it is reasonable to believe that Mrs. Diallo is the victim of enforced disappearance”, the UFDG said.

Abductions have multiplied in the west African country since General Mamady Doumbouya came to power in a 2021 coup.

In late December, Doumbouya was elected president of Guinea, with his inauguration scheduled for Jan. 17.

Although he had initially pledged not to run for president after seizing power four years ago, Doumbouya ultimately stood for election in a race from which all main opposition leaders were barred.

At the end of August, Guinean authorities suspended UFDG (Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea) and several other parties for 90 days.

It extended UFDG’s suspension in December, giving the party six months to bring itself “into full compliance with the new legal provisions” or face loss of its legal status.

Numerous opposition and civil society leaders have been arrested, convicted or forced into exile under Doumbouya while enforced disappearances and kidnappings multiplied.

In November, musician and opposition figure Elie Kamano, who lives in exile, said four of his relatives were kidnapped in Guinea.

And in September, exiled journalist Mamoudou Babila Keita, who is critical of the Guinean government, said his father was abducted “by unknown assailants”.

Two leading anti-junta activists, Oumar Sylla, better known as Fonike Mengue, and Mamadou Billo Bah, went missing in July 2024 from the capital.

And journalist Habib Marouane Camara, also critical of the government, has been missing since December 2024 after being abducted in Conakry by men in