US announces sanctions against Guinea's former leader

United States authorities announced on Friday they are imposing sanctions against Guinea's former leader Alpha Condé.

The sanctions are related to violence against opponents before being ousted in a coup in 2021.

The former Guinean leader will have his US assets frozen. All transactions involving Alpha Condé will also be criminalized.

Condébecame the first democratically elected president of Guinea in 2010 but after two terms was accused of rising authoritarianism, culminating in a bloody crackdown against protestors in 2020.

According to the US Treasury Department, Alpha Condé, who is now 84 years old, was engaged in "serious human rights abuse".