Nearly Five Years After Coup, Guinea’s President Doumbouya Dismisses 173 Soldiers Including Officer Who Helped Him Seize Power

Guinea’s President Mamadi Doumbouya has dismissed 173 military personnel for desertion in one of the broadest military shake-ups since he seized power in the September 2021 coup. The dismissals were announced in a presidential decree broadcast on state television on Monday, August 24, 2026. General Amara Camara, Minister Secretary-General of the Presidency, read the decree, which removed personnel drawn from several branches of the armed forces. The order cited desertion as the reason but did not specify when the affected personnel abandoned their posts or the circumstances surrounding the cases.

Among those dismissed was Michel Lamah, a member of the Groupement des Forces Spéciales (GFS), the elite Special Forces unit that Doumbouya commanded before seizing power. Lamah became one of the most recognisable figures from the September 5, 2021 coup after images showed him in a military vehicle carrying then-President Alpha Condé following his arrest. During the takeover, troops stormed the presidential palace and detained Condé, ending his 11-year rule.

The move comes nearly five years after the coup and months after Doumbouya won the December 2025 presidential election with about 87 per cent of the vote. Following the takeover, Doumbouya had pledged that neither he nor members of the military-led transition would contest elections organised to restore civilian rule. He later entered the election and won, excluding major opposition figures.

Guinea holds significant deposits of gold, bauxite and iron ore, including about one-third of the world’s known bauxite reserves. The World Bank described the start of production at the China-backed Simandou iron ore project as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” and estimates that Guinea’s economy grew by 7.4 per cent in 2025 and projects 8.8 per cent growth in 2026 as mining output rises. The dismissals are unlikely to change that outlook on their own, but they could keep investors focused on political stability and the security of major mining projects.

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