Soldiers detain Guinea’s president, dissolve government

Mutinous soldiers in the West African nation of Guinea detained President Alpha Conde on Sept. 5 after hours of heavy gunfire rang out near the presidential palace in the capital, then announced on state television that the government had been dissolved in an apparent coup d'etat.

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The country's borders were closed and its constitution was declared invalid in the announcement read aloud on state television by army Col. Mamadi Doumbouya, who told Guineans: "The duty of a soldier is to save the country."

"We will no longer entrust politics to one man. We will entrust it to the people," said Doumbouya, draped in a Guinean flag with about a half dozen other soldiers flanked at his side.

It was not immediately known, though, how much support Doumbouya had within the military or whether other soldiers loyal to the president of more than a decade might attempt to wrest back control.

The junta later announced plans to replace Guinea's governors with regional commanders at an event Monday and warned: "Any refusal to appear will be considered rebellion" against the country's new military leaders.

The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS quickly condemned the developments, threatening sanctions if Conde was not immediately released. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted that he strongly condemned "any takeover of the government by force of the gun."

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The U.S. State Department warned against violence and urged authorities in Guinea to avoid "extra-constitutional" actions that "will only erode Guinea's prospects for peace, stability, and prosperity." Spokesman Ned Price added in a statement that the junta's "actions could limit the ability of the United States and Guinea's other international...