Condé, Alpha

Condé, Alpha älˈfä kōnˈdā [key], 1938–, Guinean political leader, president of Guinea (2010–). He lived in France from the age of 15, attended the Sorbonne, and was a professor at the Univ. of Paris. The leader of the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG), he headed the Guinean opposition in exile for many years. He returned to Guinea in 1991 and two years later ran unsuccessfully against President Lansana Conté in Guinea's first multiparty election. Condé again ran and lost in the 1998 presidential election; after that contest he was arrested, charged with sedition, and sentenced to five years in prison. provoking strong international protest. He was released (2001) following a presidential pardon. Banned from politics, Condé again left for France, but returned home in 2005. In 2010 he again ran for the presidency, winning the office after a runoff. He survived an assassination attempt in July, 2011. He won reelection with first-round victories in 2015 and, after constiutional changes that allowed him to run for two additional terms, in 2020.

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