>> good to have you with us. this is al jazeera. the leader of afghanistan's resistance movement is calling for an uprising after the taliban announced it has taken control. >> there has been obviously huge concern for the 150,000-200,000 citizens in this valley. there had not been a single civilian casualty.

he called on all afghans to show the same respect they would treat any other afghan with. there have been shortages in the valley during the fighting. he said food was going to be sent in. electricity was also going to be restarted. host: the world health organization says that 90% of clinics in afghanistan will run out of money and shut their doors. donations have been frozen since the taliban took control. the united nations is providing emergency funding to prevent what it called a humanitarian catastrophe. brazil's president, shall bolsonaro -- gel bolsonaro has

signed a decree to change social media. some syrians who have returned home after seeking refuge abroad have died in custody, disappeared, or being tortured. amnesty international's catalog describes horrific violations against 66 returnees including 13 children. a manhunt is underway for six palestinians who escaped from israel by digging a tunnel under the jail. those are the headlines. more news after inside story, next.

host: soldiers oppose guineas president. they say they acted in response to the people's will. what is next for the nation? can a military coup restore democracy? this is "inside story." ♪ hello, welcome to the program. guinea has a long history of instability and military takeovers. the west african nation faces political uncertainty after soldiers overthrew president alpha conde. in 2010, conde became the first

democratically elected leader since independence from france. he won a third term in a disputed election that sparked widespread protest. his opponents accused him of authoritarian rule. on sunday, he appeared in a video surrounded by guards. heavy gunfire was heard near the capital. soldiers announced on television that the president was detained and then imposed a nationwide curfew. they said they were acting in the best interests of the nation. >> we will no longer entrust politics to a man. we will entrust them to the people. it is the duty of a soldier to save country. the only thing that motivates us is that. we must all build the system together.

host: the move has drawn concern from regional and international leaders. the west african block has condemned the takeover and threaten sanctions. the u.n. has called for conde's immediate release. members of parliament gathered after being summoned. we have more. >> government officials and prime ministers have answered the calls and made their way to the palace, otherwise known as the national assembly. we saw the prime minister under heavy escort going there. the message was clear that if government officials did not show up to this meeting, they would be seen -- it would be seen as an act of rebellion and there would be consequences to that. already overnight during the

nationwide curfew, several officials of the security forces have been arrested. so have a few of the ministers. the coup leaders, led by the head of guineas special forces, a former french legionnaire, says he has dissolved the constitution and the national assembly and taken full power in order to restore institutions that reflect the people. during the coup, we saw people taking to the streets in celebration. there is also the expectation that more than 400 political prisoners would be released following this coup. the former president guinea, alpha conde, is still being held despite demands from the international community that he be released.

>> guinea is the third west african country in five months to experience a violent transfer of power. in april, the president was killed -- president of chad was killed and replaced by his son. in may, molly's president -- mali's president was replaced. and in niger, there was a failed coup attempt. but why the number of coups is increasing in some parts of africa? senegal has no history of military takeover. ghana has had seven back-to-back elections since 1992. let's bring in our guests. from casablanca, adama gaye is a

journalist, author, and former director of information. kwesi aning, director of the kofi annan on peace keep being -- peacekeeping training center, and centerjesper bjarnesen, a senior researcher at the nordic institute. what do you know about this national committee? are we talking about soldiers, mutineers, or officers who said it is time for real change in guinea? adama: this is the outcome of a race to power. the gentleman who was first to take over believed this would protect him when he took over three years ago from other people.

so, when he decided to pass to the next stage, indeed, he would never have expected a military coup. host: this seems to be an act of betrayal as alpha conde has been saying. but the coup leader is taking advantage of the growing, simmering discontent in guinea. kwesi: i think i agree with

adama, but it's not just about growing discontent. its disrespect for established rules and procedures relating to command-and-control, relating to promotion, relating to training. equally important is security force assistance from those who have supported the guinean government. i think alpha conde and his government also overlooked the demographics, the sense of frustration, the sense of exclusion, the sense of victimhood. if you listen, it is moving away from the personalization of politics. as adama said, it's tapping into

the wider public dissatisfaction, particularly with respect to the attempts to illegally stay in power. this is unfortunate, painful, but not wholly surprising. host: a leaders dream most of the time is a dignified exit. that does not seem to be the case. he was surrounded by officers and taken into custody. does he bear responsibility for what happened yesterday? centerjesper: unfortunately, he bears responsibility for what happened in guinea over the last

five years which is a more authoritarian leadership style. the constitutional amendment last year was certainly a step in that direction. he came to power not just by grabbing a third term in office but by centralizing power around the presidency. in that sense, i would say he definitely bears a large part of the blame and you can see why people would be frustrated with that development. host: most of the time, a soldier, a dictator would easily trample the constitution for political gains. but this is an activist, and opposition leader who understands the very complex political landscape in west africa. yet, he decided last year to trample on the same constitution

just to stay in power indefinitely. what happened? >> this is not the same alpha conde i have known since the 1990's. we were campaigning together. last year, i wrote a piece and i said you should know that your time is gone. allow other people to take over. this can happen to you. so, alpha conde is not fighting for democracy. he is somebody who was literally no longer willing to listen to any sort of wisdom.

he's like a young boy insisting he get to stay in power. he was willing to kill people. even tony blair, who became his economic advisor, and the foreign french -- former french minister who helped him win the presidential election, people closed their eyes. they said let's give him a chance. unfortunately, when i met him at the african union, he literally

wanted to fight with me physically. alpha conde has become a crazy person. host: i see your point. you don't turn overnight from being a political leader, and opposition leader, to a dictator. do you see them being a key player, particularly in the mining sector? kwesi: the primary challenge is that we didn't know him anymore.

several african leaders are chameleons. they have the narrative, the discourse, the language of the rule of law and the respect for human rights. i think alpha conde has demonstrated this and several african leaders have, they get the necessary tools of oppression so the dissent is destroyed and it undermines institutions. for example in guinea, people would be agreeable to behaving in a similar -- it would be

disagreeable for people to behave in a similar manner in their countries. but they have trade, and using these collective tools, they oppress the room people. let me make this point and make it clear. a signal has been sent to the armies, particularly to oppressed people that they can take power back. unfortunately, military interventions are not useful most of the time. host: but what kind of message does the coup in guinea send to the rest of west africa? does it increase the appetite of army officers to say you know what? why don't we do the same thing? centerjesper: i think there has

been a trend, and it goes back 10 or 15 years, a combination of two types of crisis. i think we should think of military coups as a symptom of another kind of coup that has been happening across west africa, but the continent more widely, you have incumbent presidents changing the constitution at will in order to stay in power, and you have a general lack of confidence in the electoral system. if there is more room to maneuver for military access, they will play a role in the military game, so to speak. i think the international community bears a part of the responsibility as well. i think it is striking how many consequences there have been towards the coup makers, especially in african countries as late. i think the signal the

international community ascending is that security is the top priority as long as -- priority. as long as countries stay relatively stable on the surface, leaders can get away with seizing power without seeing any real consequences. host: we had a sense about four years ago that the trend of military coups was starting to move downward in africa and that this could perhaps usher in a new era of democracy. this does not seem to be the case anymore. we have seen a trend moving upward. adama: the optimism of the mid to thousands, the optimism of a much more inclusive democracy with rule of law and respect for

human rights, that optimism has not been fulfilled. the rhetoric of inclusiveness has been use get power. does she used to get power. -- has been used to get power. but the international community needs to hold these leaders responsible. for example, these states have signed on to the african union, but there has been an inability by these institutions and their peers to hold their friends accountable. because guinea did not just happen. it was incremental erosion of freedoms, of constitutional rights, and the combination of

undermining constitutional processes backed by the deliberate manipulation of elections has tapped into the frustrations that we are seeing, so there are multiple levels of fear, domestically, but certainly on the international scene. unless this is dealt with, we will see at least two or three more coups before the end of the year. host: what do you think should be next for the african union? the african union itself wanted to put an end to the culture of military coups. centerjesper: what we have seen in similar cases, for example in

mali recently, there is only so much you can gain from isolating a military regime. i think the african union has a fairly good track record of encouraging dialogue with all involved parties. rather than threatening sanctions and isolation only, the african union needs to be very proactive in sending a delegation to guinea and involving parties in a broad-based dialogue and part of the goal should be to take the military as much out of the equation as possible as soon as possible and have a civilian leader. host: we try to stay away from drawing general conclusions about what is happening on the african continent, but don't you

get a sense that military coups are endemic to the continent since the independence of most of the african countries? we have seen 200 military coups. is this normal? kwesi: no, and i think in the case of ghana, of senegal, of south africa, of botswana, and others, they actually demonstrate that strong, civil societies with good leaders who have shared values and shared norms can begin leading societies away from endemic militarism. democratic institutions and processes are difficult.

there are occasions where conversations become fairly tense. control measures can be quite tough. but with sophisticated leadership and the role of the media, we can begin to see a shift toward a more democratic process. when democracies begin to bear fruit -- in the current situation, it is difficult. there is a sense of optimism and hope. host: in the past, coups were built against a backdrop of a previous military coup, an army officer rebelling against his boss. now you have something

different, which is a military coup against established democracy for one decade or two decades. if you look at west africa, you are seeing this pattern. we saw what happened in mali, chad, niger, and you get a sense there is something wrong with that part of africa. centerjesper: this is a part of africa that is struggling in terms of economic development as well, in terms of quite a lot of measures of human development more broadly. these are states under pressure. one lesson i drew from the developments in mali is that even under civilian rule, the military is never far away.

the military is always close to power, and that is the problem. the problem it is it is -- the problem is it is too easy for militaries to decide if their own initiative to draw a line and conduct a coup. there is a need for reform in the military structures. i am sure others are more knowledgeable about this than i am, but i think they are too close to power. and i also think that even in countries that are not in the midst of this kind of up people -- kind of upheaval, we need to have more committed conversations about what is happening with constitutional democracy. it does seem like there is anxiety around elections, even in stable countries. we have seen it in kenya, for example. there are accusations of fraud, protest, violence. i think there is a deeper conversation to be had about the

roots of democracy and circles of power. host: thank you. we will have to leave it there. unfortunately, we lost contact with adama a while ago because of technical problems, but we look forward to having him in the near future for conversations about different events unfolding in the african continent. and thank you for watching. you can see the program anytime by visiting our website. for further discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation. for the entire team, goodbye for now. ♪

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in power. what will the results mean for germany and the european union? >> september on al jazeera. >> china's designs on the indian ocean. canlo)?■o■oó

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