Exiled Guinean opposition leader says his passport has been revoked

A leading Guinean opposition figure said on Tuesday that his passport has been revoked, preventing him from attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Cellou Dalein Diallo, who has lived in exile since 2022, said he had been due to participate in meetings on the sidelines of the gathering.

His party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) was dissolved in March by President Mamady Doumbouya along with several other main opposition parties.

The UFDG says Diallo had already obtained his boarding pass to fly from Abidjan to New York when Ethiopian airlines informed him that his passport had been cancelled by the “issuing authorities”.

Consequently, the party said the airline told him it was not authorised to allow him to board the flight.

Doumbouya seized power in a 2021 coup, ousting Guinea’s first freely elected president Alpha Conde.

He won a seven-year term as president in contested polls held in December last year in which the main opposition leaders, including Diallo, were barred from taking part.

Under Doumbouya's rule, demonstrations have been banned and many dissenting voices has been arrested, convicted, forced into exile, or have disappeared.

At the time political parties were banned, Diallo called on Guineans to engage in "direct resistance", without specifying what exactly they should do.

He also said political change would not happen through dialogue or democratic processes.