Guinean President Alpha Conde appealed for national unity

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Conakry, Dec 15 (AFP/APP): Guinean President Alpha Conde appealed for national unity on Tuesday after taking the oath of office for a third term following violently disputed elections.

“I urge every one of you to forget the divisive past and turn towards a future of unity and hope,” said Conde at ceremonies in the capital Conakry attended by African heads of state. The 82-year-old’s bid for a third term had been condemned by the opposition as an abuse of power, and dozens died in clashes.

“Everyone must uphold the law and ban violence from their words and acts so that our country remains a community of freedom and responsibility,” Conde warned. The head of the constitutional court, Mohamed Lamine Bangoura, declared Conde’s next term would start officially on December 21.

Conde, dressed in a white gown, promised to “scrupulously respect the provisions of the constitution, the laws, and the court decisions, to defend the constitutional institutions, the integrity of the territory and the national independence”.

The former opposition leader became the impoverished West African state’s first democratically-elected president in 2010 and won re-election in 2015. But as his second term progressed, critics accused him of cracking down on dissent and seeking to subvert constitutional limits on presidential tenure.

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