GUINEA: Guinea syndicates strike deal to suspend strike and sends country back to work

Deal to end strike brings back normality to Guinea. Guinea security forces scaled back their presence in the capital and shops reopened on Sunday (January 28) after unions reached a deal to end an 18-day general strike in the world's top bauxite exporter. At least 60 people were killed during the strike in street clashes between security forces and protesters opposing ageing authoritarian President Lansana Conte, rights campaigners say. Conte agreed to appoint a consensus prime minister with delegated powers to name a new government under a deal signed late on Saturday and carrying on till the early hours of Monday morning, which also cut prices of fuel and rice in the impoverished West African state. "The president of the Republic has accepted to name a Prime Minister, chief of government as per the dispositions in article 39 of the fundamental law," said principal negotiator Ousmane Souare, reading the main points of the agreement. The main players from Guinea's Union signed the agreement, calling on workers to return to their posts. "Today we have signed a colective agreement marking the end of the social conflict which between worker and employer, but which is more than anything the beginning of a new era for work relations in Guinea. This will be fully consacrated at the effective partnership between the government, the employers and the workers, in the definition and application of the political, social and economic development of our country," said Secretary General of the Confederation of the Workers of Guinea, Rabiatou Silla Diallo, after herself putting the seal of approval on the deal. After a local deal between management and unions, mining resumed on Saturday (January 27) at national bauxite company CBG, the world's top exporter of the aluminium ore and a major source of government revenue, where the general strike had halted exports. Union leaders warned the general strike was only suspended and could resume if the deal were not honoured. The strike was launched on Jan. 10 to challenge the 23-year rule of Conte, a reclusive, chain-smoking diabetic in his 70s whom union leaders said was no longer fit to run the country. Saturday's agreement, signed by the head of the Supreme Court and the National Assembly as well as union leaders and a representative of business leaders, formalised the appointment of a new consensus prime minister to take over the day-to-day operations of government. Strike leaders have insisted the government propose an acceptable candidate to fill the post in the coming days. The deal committed the government to prosecuting corruption, particularly two former Conte allies the president personally intervened to free from prison last month. It also demanded all assets of foreign mining companies operating in Guinea -- which include U.S. aluminium giant Alcoa, Canada's Alcan and Russia's RUSAL -- should be domiciled in the country, although it said this point would be negotiated with the future premier.

ITN Source | January 29, 2007

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