Clashes break out as Guinea strike worsens

          January 16 2007 at 01:15AM

      By Saliou Samb

      Conakry - Police in Guinea's capital fired warning shots when they clashed
      with stone-throwing protesters on Monday as tensions escalated over a
      general strike called by unions trying to oust the West African country's
      president.

      Union leaders threatened to halt Guinea's important bauxite industry as
      they sought to increase the pressure on ageing President Lansana Conte to
      step aside.

      In street clashes in Conakry on the sixth day of the nationwide stoppage,
      riot police fired teargas at groups of rioting youths who burned tyres and
      smashed car windows, police and witnesses said.

      Police said they made several arrests, including some protesters found to
      be carrying firearms, before calm returned to the worst-hit
neighbourhoods.



      "They fired on us. We've seized some firearms along with protesters. We'll
      be investigating where these arms came from," a senior police officer, who
      asked not be named, told Reuters.

      He said one group of demonstrators had tried to break into a police
      station to seize arms.

      Union and opposition leaders say Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s
      who seized power in a 1984 coup, has become increasingly erratic in his
      decisions and unfit to rule.

      The violent protests in at least four neighbourhoods of the Guinean
      capital defied an official ban on public demonstrations. Extra soldiers
      and police have been patrolling the streets.

      Security sources reported clashes in the Hamdalaye, Cosa, Fangoyah and
      Matam quarters of the city.

      Earlier, strike leaders said that unless a solution was found they would
      halt bauxite production on Thursday in the world's biggest single exporter
      of the ore from which aluminium is extracted.

      Conte met strike leaders late on Friday and asked them to put their
      demands in writing.