A delegation from West Africa’s main political and economic bloc will head to Guinea on Friday, two days after it suspended the country’s membership in response to a military coup that removed President Alpha Conde.

The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo are due to land in the capital, Conakry, as representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Alpha Barry, the Burkinabe member of the delegation, said on Thursday.

The high-level diplomatic mission is expected to demand the return to constitutional order and to push for the immediate release of Conde, who was arrested by special forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya on Sunday.

ECOWAS has demanded 83-year-old Conde’s unconditional release but has made no mention of any possible sanctions.

Life in the capital was gradually returning to normal on Thursday, with markets reopening their doors as citizens await the announcement of a new government.

“Consultations have been going on but apparently this is taking much longer than the coup leaders had expected,” Idris added.

Doumbouya maintains he is acting in the best interests of the nation, accusing Conde’s government of “endemic corruption” and of “trampling on citizens’ rights”. He has pledged to install a transitional government of “national unity” but has not said when or how that will happen.

The coup in Guinea sparked broad diplomatic condemnation, including by the United Nations and the African Union. It was the fourth in 13 months in West and Central Africa, raising concerns among observers over a proliferation of military-led governments in the region.

“It’s very important for ECOWAS … and other international actors to condemn this coup, which was unconstitutional, and to not let a precedent be set that it’s all right to depose a government that you simply disagree with,” Alix Boucher, analyst at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies said.

“Clearly what needs to happen is a transition of some sort that brings back democracy and that helps to establish a system where the government is well managed, where human rights are guaranteed and where political participation leads to elections,” Boucher said.

ECOWAS on Wednesday said it had suspended Guinea’s membership to the 15-member bloc in response to the coup. However, Alpha Barry, Burkina Faso’s foreign minister, told reporters following an extraordinary virtual summit that the bloc could review its decision to suspend Guinea’s membership following its mediation.

“At the end of that mission, ECOWAS should be able to re-examine its position,” Barry said.

Conde became the first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected for a second term in 2015. Last year, he pushed through a constitutional change to allow himself to run for a third term, a move deemed illegal by his opponents.

ECOWAS was criticised at the time by activists for remaining silent about Conde’s third term, which would have allowed him to remain in power until 2030.

Conde went on to win a presidential election in October 2020. Violent protests erupted across the country in response to his re-election, resulting in dozens of protesters being killed.

Military leaders on Tuesday released about 80 political opponents that were jailed during the turbulent electoral period on a variety of charges, including breaching security, destroying public property and manufacturing weapons.

In April of 2021, the Japan Sports Arbitration Agency (JSAA), which handles disputes related to national federations of the Olympics and Paralympics in Japan, issued an arbitral award (JSAA-AP-2020-003[1]) concerning sports coaching and sexual harassment, which raises significant issues.

Allegedly, the male coach touched the female player’s right hand and right elbow which were holding the racket twice and adjusted the movement of her racket, etc.,in order to make the player aware of her balance when swinging her forehand, and once again touched her right knee so as to adjust the direction of her knee, without obtaining her consent during a 30-minute pre-match coaching session at the tournament venue in the international table tennis tournament for persons with intellectual disabilities.

In this case, first of all, the female player as a victim reported to the national federation of table tennis for persons with intellectual disabilities about the male coach’s inappropriate behavior as stated in the above-mentioned allegation. Its Compliance Committee and Investigation Committee, which consists of outside lawyers, conducted an investigation, found the above-mentioned claim to be sexual harassment, and imposed a sanction of “guidance” on the coach.

In parallel with the investigation by the national federation, the player also reported the incident to the third-party committee regarding violence and harassment in Sports of the Japan Sports Council (JSC). The committee identified the inappropriate behavior of the coach in question, including the conduct described above, and recommended that the national federation take appropriate action.

The panel of JSAA ruled that even a one-time physical contact or a short period of time could constitute sexual harassment. The panel however denied sexual harassment on the grounds that “the coach’s behavior was only the minimum amount of physical contact necessary for coaching in front of a large number of people at the venue and in a very limited time (a few times at most in seconds during a 30-minute practice), and it is difficult to recognize it as an act of a sexual nature.

The key point of this decision was that the Panel considered “the minimum amount of physical contact necessary for coaching”. As a premise for such a decision, the panel stated that “coaching and education in sports should include not only verbal instruction, but also a certain amount of physical contact, and physical contact must be incorporated into practical instruction and coaching.