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Africa
Guinea president 'to choose new PM'
Lasana Conte offers key concession to protesters in a bid to end a 17-day strike.
Last Modified: 27 Jan 2007 03:26 GMT
Guinea's 17-day strike was accompanied by outbursts of violence and looting [AFP]

Lasana Conte, Guinea's president has said he will appoint a new prime minister and grant him additional powers.
 
Conte's proposal, announced on Friday, may end 17 days of bloody protests by demonstrators calling for his resignation.
 
59 people have been killed during the strike in violent clashes between government forces and protesters.
Leaders of the strikers said that the president's move met most of the protesters' demands.
 
"He [Conte] has accepted the principle of a prime minister who is head of government," Amadou Diallo, assistant secretary- general of the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG), told reporters.
"We are satisfied. It was the most important point for us."
 
Dallo said that the government still had to agree to the strikers' demands for lower fuel and rice prices, but he  said he was confident this could be achieved.
 
"This should go quickly. The strike could be suspended from tomorrow," he said.
 
The president and the government have not yet formally announced the appointment of a new prime minister.
 
Exports halted by strike
 
The government's promse to appoint an new prime minister followed days of intense negotiations to try to end a nationwide strike against Conte which has paralysed the West African country for 17 days.
 
The strike has halted most bauxite shipments from Guinea which is the world's biggest exporter of the aluminium ore.
 
Conte has ruled Guinea since taking power in a 1984 military coup.
 
If he appoints a new prime minister, it will mark the first time the impoverished West African nation has had a premier since last April, when Conte fired Cellou Dalein Diallo.
Source:
Agencies
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