GUINEA: Guineans wait with a mixture of caution and relief for nomination of a new prime minister following general strike

Record ID: 339987

  • Title: GUINEA: Guineans wait with a mixture of caution and relief for nomination of a new prime minister following general strike
  • Date: 26th January 2007
  • Summary: (BN16) CONAKRY, GUINEA (JANUARY 23, 2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE ON VEHICLES SHOOTING AND TIRES BURNING
  • Embargoed: 10th February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Guinea
  • Country: Guinea
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3EQ90B00P6FAMBDO0QHPI9ZS1
  • Story Text: Guineans waited with a mixture of caution and relief on Thursday (January 25) for the nomination of a new prime minister, a move they hope will end a general strike which has paralysed the West African country for two weeks.
    President Lansana Conte agreed in principle late on Wednesday (January 24) to name a consensus premier, the key demand of unions staging the nationwide stoppage in which more than 40 people have been killed in street protests, mediators said.
    "We want the president to leave power, there are too much prices, too much," said an unnamed protester on Monday (January 22).
    "I want the people of Guinea to go to the palace to talk about the problem of Guinea. We are tired. We need development for this country. The people of Guinea suffer for nothing. We need to change it all," said another protester.
    Union and business leaders and representatives of political parties, state institutions and the national assembly held talks to decide on the name of a premier to propose to the president.
    There is no obvious favourite and diplomats say any appointee may struggle to end the political crisis as long as Conte's family continues to influence government affairs.
    At one point, a crowd of excited residents took to the streets of the central Boulbinet neighbourhood, cheering and shouting, following a false rumour a new premier had been named.
    The two-week-old strike has halted shipments of bauxite from the world's top exporter of the ore used to make aluminium, and triggered food shortages in the oceanside capital Conakry as markets and banks remain shuttered.
    Huge queues formed at fuel stations on Thursday as cars and pedestrians ventured back onto the streets after protests which the security forces quashed by opening fire, killing at least 33 in Conakry alone on Monday, filling hospitals with wounded.
    Union chiefs welcomed Conte's readiness to consider a consensus prime minister as a positive step towards ending the crisis, but said they would need to see concrete action before lifting their protest, the third of its kind in a year.
    Union leaders called the stoppage after Conte intervened to free from jail two former allies accused of graft, and after a series of sudden and chaotic cabinet reshuffles.
    They say the president, a chain-smoking, reclusive diabetic in his 70s, has become increasingly erratic in his 23-year rule over the former French colony, whose nearly 10 million people live in poverty despite the country's mineral riches.
    Conte's clan-based rule has been founded on army support since he seized power in a 1984 coup.
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