Sidya Touré dies in exile: the final chapter of a former Guinean Prime Minister

He dreamed of returning to Guinea. He would never have had the opportunity in the end. Sidya Touré died this night in Paris at the age of 81. Former Prime Minister, candidate twice for the presidency, and a historic figure of the Guinean opposition, he experienced the peaks of power, the wounds of repression, political alliances, and finally, a new exile far from Conakry. It is far from Guinea that Sidya Touré lived his last years. And it is even farther from his country that he has just breathed his last. The former Guinean Prime Minister died this night in Paris, where he had been evacuated for health reasons. At 81 years old, the man who dedicated a large part of his life to Guinea disappeared without being able to see his country. A destiny marked by a paradox: the more Sidya Touré got closer to power, the more his political history was ultimately written in exile. From Sékou Touré to Lansana Conté: the return of the exile Exile, Sidya Touré knew it since his youth. Under the regime of Sékou Touré, he left Guinea and settled in Côte d’Ivoire. This country became his second homeland and the stage for a brilliant administrative career. In the Treasury, then in Internal Trade, Sidya Touré gradually moved up the ranks of the Ivorian administration. His path even led him into the circle of Alassane Ouattara, whom he became the chief of staff while he was Prime Minister of Félix Houphouët-Boigny. But in 1996, Sidya Touré decided to return to the country. Guinea was then going through a grave crisis. Mutinies shook the regime of Lansana Conté. To try to regain control of the situation and put the economy back on track, the president called upon this technocrat trained far from Conakry. Sidya Touré became Prime Minister. “Sidya courant”, the technocrat who wants to restore Guinea In the Prime Ministry, the new head of government found an exhausted economy. He initiated reforms, renewed relations with donors, and tried to restore the financial credibility of the state. But it was especially on water and electricity that his passage in government left a mark on the collective memory. His action earned him a nickname that will remain: “Sidya courant”. Three years later, the governmental experience ended. But Sidya Touré is not a man to disappear. In 2000, he took the helm of the Union of Republican Forces (UFR) and became one of the incontournable faces of the Guinean opposition. September 28, 2009: power and blood His political commitment also cost him physically. On September 28, 2009, while the Guinean opposition mobilized at the stadium in Conakry against the ruling junta, Sidya Touré was present. The demonstration turned into carnage. Dozens of people were killed and many others were wounded. Sidya Touré himself was shot in the head. But this wound did not end his political fight. In 2010, during the first open presidential election of this new period, he ran as a candidate. He finished third and confirmed his status as a major figure in Guinean politics. The strange Alpha Condé parenthesis Then comes 2016. Sidya Touré surprises by accepting to join the power of Alpha Condé as the head of state’s high representative. A decision that causes misunderstandings in part of the opposition. Three years later, the parenthesis ends. Sidya Touré returns to the opposition and participates in the contestation against Alpha Condé's third term project. Then, on September 5, 2021, everything changes. The military overthrow Alpha Condé. For Sidya Touré, this change of regime does not, however, mean a return to the forefront. On the contrary, it opens the last and longest sequence of exile of his life. House left, property contested, passport withdrawn: Sidya leaves into exile From February 2022, the former Prime Minister leaves his residence in Conakry. His troubles with the new authorities accumulate. He is deprived of his passport, contests the dispossession of some of his property, and sees his party dissolved. Little by little, the former presidential candidate is sidelined from official political life. Sidya Touré then returns to Côte d’Ivoire. Again, exile. Again, far from Conakry. But this time, at 81 years old, he will never find Guinea. He wanted Guinea. He dies far from it. The man with the mustache and small glasses, known for his calm and composed tone, has crossed several regimes, several crises, and several episodes of Guinean political history. He has been an administrator, technocrat, Prime Minister, presidential candidate, opposition member, ally of power, and finally, an exile. His last fight was waged from afar. Sidya Touré died in Paris. His country was thousands of kilometers away. And the former Guinean Prime Minister, who began his political life in exile, finally ended it far from Conakry. At 81 years old, Sidya Touré leaves the scene. But his journey, however, will remain intimately linked to a question that has crossed his whole life: that of the impossible return to the country he wanted to govern.