CONAKRY, Guinea
Guinea's junta is inspired by
the Rwandan "model", it said Tuesday, during a visit by President
Paul Kagame, one of the first by a foreign leader since a 2021 coup.President Kagame and his host Col. Mamadi Doumbouya cutting a ribbon during the inauguration of the "Kagame highway interchange"
"From the 1994 genocide
to the reunification of the country, Rwanda has been able to recover... and
rebuild, before asserting itself as an African benchmark," the Guinean
presidency said in a statement Tuesday.
"This is why the Rwandan
model fascinates Colonel President (Mamady) Doumbouya," the junta leader
said.
The Rwandan leader arrived
Monday evening in Guinea's capital Conakry for the third leg of a West African
tour, following stops in Benin and Guinea-Bissau.
The two leaders said they
wanted to strengthen bilateral relations and create a "bridge"
between Conakry and Kigali, Rwanda's capital.
Doumbouya, who was sworn in as
president following a military coup in September 2021, has relented to
international pressure and pledged to return power to elected civilians by the
end of 2024.
The junta says it must carry
out far-reaching reforms before handing back power.
"Profoundly rebuilding
Guinea while inscribing it on the path of national reconciliation, autonomy and
emergence - such is the real challenge," the statement said.
Kagame, who has been in office
since 2000, said he was willing to work with Guinea and hoped to welcome
Doumbouya "very soon" to Rwanda, the statement said.
The Guinean opposition said
Kagame's visit should not legitimize the junta regime.
It has been calling for a
rapid return to civilian rule, as well as a "credible" dialogue and
the release of political prisoners.
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