West Africa to impose bans, freeze assets of Guinea junta

By FRANCIS KOKUTSE
Associated Press

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — West African leaders have decided to impose travel bans and freeze financial assets of members of Guinea’s ruling junta and their families after a coup more than a week ago. The decisions were announced Thursday after an Extraordinary Summit on Guinea in Ghana’s capital, Accra, by the bloc, known as ECOWAS. Mediators with the regional group had traveled to Guinea to meet with junta leaders and check on the condition of deposed President Alpha Conde. ECOWAS president Jean Claude Brou said the West African leaders have also insisted that there should be no “need for very long transition for the country to return to democratic order.” The targeted sanctions come after Guinea’s coup leaders set a number of conditions for releasing Conde.