The international condemnation, led by the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of the military coup that has taken place in Guinea is understandable.

Guinea had a constitution and following the death of President Lansana Conte, the selection of a successor should have been allowed to proceed according to the rules.

But the coup led by a junior Guinean Army officer, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara needs to be seen in context. Since it won independence from French colonial rule in 1958, mineral-rich Guinea has been an object lesson in corruption and economic and political mismanagement.

Even today the bulk of the 9.4 million population struggles by on less than a dollar a day, even though their country is a major exporter of bauxite, the raw material for aluminum. It was Guinea’s misfortune to begin its freedom from French rule under President Ahmed Sekou Toure who introduced Marxist economics that stifled growth and kept his people poor.

Sekou Toure died in 1984 and power was seized by a group of generals led by Conte. Though Marxist economics was ditched, Conte preserved the dictatorship and the continued impoverishment of his people.

Earlier this year many Guineans celebrated five decade of independence with the ironic chant, “Hooray for Fifty Years of Poverty.” That explains why this week thousands of people crowded the streets of the capital Conakry to welcome the coup by this young army officer.

It seems clear many Guineans feared if the ruling elite had been left to choose a successor to Conte, who would have then been endorsed in a further dubious election, nothing would have changed. Now with a completely new person in government, there is at least an outside chance that their lives may finally be bettered.

Unconstitutional and regrettable though the coup may be, it might be better for the international community to recognize that this small country may be on the threshold of a better future. Capt. Camara said at his first press conference at which he announced himself president, that he intended to serve only two years to what would have been the end of the late President Conte’s term and then he would hold proper elections.

He also demanded that senior generals and members of Conte’s government should hand themselves in to the authorities. Some have certainly done this and last night pictures were published of a number of former ministers posing with somewhat strained smiles beside the country’s new leader.

Hope comes from the precedent of nearby Ghana where another junior officer overthrew a corrupt government in 1979. Despite some false starts at democratic and economic reform, Rawlings who was eventually elected president in a fair vote in 1992, oversaw a considerable bettering of Ghana’s fortunes. He retired voluntarily from politics in 2001. It must be hoped that Capt. Camara’s Guinea coup brings about similar changes.