| UPDATED ON: MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2007 16:19 MECCA TIME, 13:19 GMT

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NEWS BUSINESS
Guinea strike halts bauxite exports |  |
A Guinea news agency said Lansana Conté intends to stay on as president until 2010 [AP]
The global trade in bauxite, the mineral ore used to make aluminium, have been disrupted by general strikes in Guinea, the world's number one exporter. As strikes entered their 13th day on Monday, one of Guinea's major rail export link remained blocked while trains travelling to the main port in Conakry, the capital, were also attacked.
The strikers have been demanding the resignation of Lansana Conte, the country's president. By Monday at least eight people had been killed in clashes between rioters, strikers and government forces. Some reports say that the true death toll is nearer 17.
Conte has called for citizens and the army to unite behind him. But the strike, launched by union leaders who say the reclusive, diabetic president in his 70s is unfit to rule, has continued. Bauxite trains halted Operators tried to get the bauxite export train working on Sunday, but were prevented from doing so by union members, an official said. The train carrying bauxite from the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee (CBG) mine at Sangaredi for shipping from the port of Kamsar, northwest of Conakry, was halted late last week, when an official said ship loading operations had been slowed down. A CBG official at Sangaredi said: "Since the stoppage all activity is blocked. Yesterday they [the drivers] tried to get the train going, but they met a firm refusal from unionists." An official at the mine said that stockpiles at Kamsar port might run out in a week without new bauxite deliveries by train. A spokesman for US aluminium maker Alcoa, which runs the operation, said it was too early to evaluate the effect on output. Guinea's government holds 49 per cent of CBG, which produces just over 14 million tonnes of wet bauxite a year from its mine in the northwest Boke region. CBG exports about 13 million tonnes of dried bauxite per year, which contributes to Guinea being the world's biggest exporter of bauxite, from which aluminium is smelted. Stoning At the weekend, youths started stoning a train as it made its way through the outskirts of Conakry to deliver alumina to the city's port. "Youths attacked our train drivers with rocks and missiles," said one employee. "This is a very delicate situation because if the factory halts it will not be able to provide electricity or water to the town of Fria, and we will not be able to treat the chemicals coming out of the factory – apart from the serious blow to the Guinean economy." Fria, which opened in 1960, produces around 700,000 tonnes of alumina a year. In an interview with a Guinea news agency in October 2006, Lansana Conté said that he intends to stay as president until 2010, the end of his seven-year term.
Source: Agencies
Related:
| Guinea's president makes radio plea (21 Jan 2007)
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