In Conakry, Guinea's President Mamadi Doumbouya has dismissed 173 soldiers by decree — among them Colonel Michel Lamah, a man who stood beside him when he seized power in 2021. The move is the latest chapter in a familiar human story: the revolutionary who, once enthroned, begins dismantling the very scaffolding that lifted him there. Having already broken his promise of civilian transition and won a heavily managed election with 87 percent of the vote, Doumbouya now turns inward, pruning the military of those whose loyalty to the coup may not translate into loyalty to the president.
Guinea's President Dismisses 173 Soldiers, Including Coup Ally, in Consolidation Move
Guinea has experienced widespread crackdowns on civil liberties including media shutdowns, protest bans, and arrests or exile of activists and opposition figures.
Loyalty to the coup is not the same as loyalty to the president.
Mark
Why would Doumbouya dismiss the very people who helped him take power? Doesn't that seem counterintuitive?
Mimi
It does at first. But once you're in power, the people who helped you get there become a different kind of threat. They know how it's done. They have networks. They have credibility with the troops. Lamah was photographed carrying the deposed president—he's a symbol of the coup itself. That's dangerous for someone trying to look like a legitimate elected leader.
Mark
So this is about erasing the coup narrative?
Mimi
Partly. But it's also about control. If you're going to stay in power, you need the military fragmented enough that no one officer can organize a challenge, but unified enough that it still functions. Dismissing 173 soldiers at once sends a message: we're watching, and loyalty isn't permanent.
Mark
The election was won with 87 percent of the vote, but the opposition was barred. How does that work politically?
Mimi
It works if you control the narrative. You can say the people chose you overwhelmingly. You can point to the numbers. The fact that the choice was constrained becomes a detail, something activists mention but that doesn't make the evening news. And if activists are arrested or exiled, they're not mentioning it to anyone.
Mark
What about the soldiers being dismissed? Do they have recourse?
Mimi
Not really. It's a decree. There's no court-martial, no hearing, no documented charges. They're simply gone. That's the point—it's efficient, it's final, and it's untouchable. You can't appeal a decree.
Mark
And the mineral resources angle—how does that fit?
Mimi
Doumbouya wants to transform Guinea's economy, move it up the value chain. That requires investment, stability, predictability. A military with competing factions or lingering coup loyalists is unpredictable. So you clean house. You make sure everyone in uniform understands that the only loyalty that matters is to the president, and that loyalty is conditional.
El Pulso
- A man photographed carrying Guinea's deposed president away in 2021 has now himself been cast out — dismissed by the very leader he helped install.
- 173 soldiers were removed by presidential decree with no court proceedings, no documented charges, and no public accounting of the alleged desertions.
- Opposition parties were barred from December's election, media outlets have been shuttered, protests banned, and activists driven into exile — the dismissals are not an isolated act but part of a sustained narrowing of political space.
- Doumbouya appears to be engineering a military without coherent alternative leadership, betting that fragmentation is the surest insurance against the kind of coup he himself once led.
- Guinea's vast mineral wealth gives the president both motive and means to project stability — but a government that rules by decree and purges its own architects is building on uncertain ground.
In Conakry, Guinea's President Mamadi Doumbouya has dismissed 173 soldiers by decree — among them Colonel Michel Lamah, a man who stood beside him when he seized power in 2021. The move is the latest chapter in a familiar human story: the revolutionary who, once enthroned, begins dismantling the very scaffolding that lifted him there. Having already broken his promise of civilian transition and won a heavily managed election with 87 percent of the vote, Doumbouya now turns inward, pruning the military of those whose loyalty to the coup may not translate into loyalty to the president.
Guinea's President Mamadi Doumbouya has dismissed 173 soldiers on charges of desertion, with the announcement delivered by presidential decree on state television. The most striking name on the list was Colonel Michel Lamah — a member of the Special Forces Group that Doumbouya once commanded, and a man photographed in the vehicle that carried deposed President Alpha Condé away during the September 2021 coup. That one of the coup's architects now finds himself purged speaks plainly to the logic of Doumbouya's consolidation.
When Doumbouya seized power five years ago, he pledged not to seek elected office and to return Guinea to civilian rule. That promise dissolved in December, when he stood for election and won 87 percent of the vote in a contest from which two of the country's largest opposition parties — RPG Arc en Ciel and UFDG — were barred from participating. What followed was less an election than a ratification.
The military dismissals fit a broader pattern. Since taking power, Doumbouya's government has shut down media outlets, banned public protests, suspended political parties, and arrested or exiled opposition figures and activists. The 173 soldiers were removed without court proceedings or documented charges — simply named in a decree and declared gone. The absence of due process is itself a form of message.
Guinea sits atop enormous reserves of bauxite, iron ore, and gold, and Doumbouya has spoken of transforming the country from a raw materials exporter into an industrial processing hub. That vision demands the appearance of order. A military with competing loyalties or officers who might question the president's direction threatens that image.
The dismissal of Lamah — a man present at the moment of seizure — sends an unambiguous signal to everyone still in uniform: proximity to the coup confers no permanent protection. Usefulness has a shelf life. For a government born from military intervention, the strategy is grimly ironic — the surest defense against another coup may be to ensure the armed forces have no coherent leadership left to mount one.
Guinea's President Mamadi Doumbouya, now 41, has moved to dismiss 173 soldiers from the military on charges of desertion. The announcement came via state television decree on Monday, read by General Amara Camara, the president's spokesman. Among those let go was Colonel Michel Lamah, a member of the Special Forces Group—the same elite unit Doumbouya once commanded and the same unit that helped him overthrow the government five years ago.
Lamah's removal carries particular weight. In September 2021, when Doumbouya led troops into the presidential palace to arrest then-President Alpha Condé, Lamah was photographed in the vehicle carrying the deposed leader away. He was, in other words, one of the architects of the coup that brought Doumbouya to power. That such a figure now finds himself dismissed suggests something about the nature of Doumbouya's consolidation efforts—a tightening of control that extends even to those who helped him seize it.
When Doumbouya took power in that 2021 coup, he made a public commitment: he would not seek election himself, and he would hand over to civilian rule. That promise lasted roughly three years. In December, Doumbouya stood for election and won decisively, capturing 87 percent of the vote. The election, however, was notably narrow in its field. Two of Guinea's largest opposition parties—RPG Arc en Ciel and UFDG—were barred from competing. The result was less a contest than a coronation.
The path from coup leader to elected president has been accompanied by a steady narrowing of political space. Media outlets have been shut down. Public protests have been banned. Several political parties have been suspended. Activists and opposition figures have been arrested or forced into exile. The military dismissals announced this week fit into that pattern—a systematic removal of potential sources of challenge or resistance, particularly from within the armed forces themselves.
No specific details were provided about the circumstances of the alleged desertions. The decree simply named the 173 personnel across various military branches and declared them dismissed. The lack of transparency is itself telling. These are not court-martialed soldiers with documented charges; they are removed by presidential decree, their cases closed before they open.
Guinea is a country rich in mineral resources—bauxite, iron ore, gold. Since taking power, Doumbouya has articulated an economic vision: moving Guinea away from being merely a supplier of raw materials and toward becoming a hub for industrial processing. That ambition requires stability, or at least the appearance of it. A military fractured by competing loyalties, or harboring officers who might harbor doubts about the president's direction, does not fit that vision.
The dismissal of Lamah—a man who stood beside Doumbouya in the moment of seizure—sends a message to anyone in uniform watching: loyalty to the coup is not the same as loyalty to the president. Usefulness expires. Alliances shift. The only permanent position is the one at the top. For a government born from military intervention, the irony is sharp: the surest way to prevent another coup may be to ensure the military has no coherent leadership, no trusted figures, no alternative centers of power. Whether that strategy succeeds or merely postpones the inevitable remains to be seen.
Citas Notables
When Doumbouya took power in 2021, he promised not to seek election and to hand over to civilian rule—a commitment he abandoned within three years.— Public statements at time of coup versus actions in December election
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