Guinea opposition leader and former prime minister Sidya Toure dies aged 81

Sidya Toure, Guinea’s former prime minister and a leading opposition figure, has died in Paris at the age of 81, sources close to his family told AFP. Toure died on Friday after being hospitalised for about two weeks at the American Hospital of Paris. The sources said he had fallen ill in Abidjan and spoke anonymously because of concerns for their safety.

He had led the Union of Republican Forces, one of Guinea’s major opposition parties, from exile in Ivory Coast. The party was among 40 political organisations dissolved in March during what the source described as a major crackdown on civil liberties under longtime strongman Mamady Doumbouya. Toure left Guinea after the September 2021 military coup that brought Doumbouya to power.

Doumbouya was later elected president in December last year in a vote that did not include the UFR or Guinea’s two other main opposition parties, the UFDG and RPG. Toure was appointed prime minister by President Lansana Conte in July 1996 and served until March 1999. His tenure was marked by administrative and economic reforms and efforts to strengthen Guinea’s relations with international financial institutions.

After leaving government, he became head of the UFR in 2000 and developed into a prominent opponent of Conte and later administrations. He stood as the UFR’s presidential candidate in 2010 and 2015 but lost both elections. Born in 1945 in Ivory Coast, Toure also worked in that country’s economic and financial administration during his career.

Guinea’s current Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah described him on X as a prominent figure in the country’s political life for three decades and praised him as a pragmatic reformer.