Guinea strike violence leaves nine dead
By Saliou Samb
Conakry - At least nine people were killed and more than a dozen wounded when soldiers opened fire on student protests in Guinea on Monday, police and witnesses said, as a general strike gripped the West African state.
Three people were killed in the capital Conakry, including a child hit by a stray bullet, when an isolated soldier opened fire after being mobbed by angry students protesting at the suspension of exams due for Monday, a police source said.
A witness in the northern town of Labe, 430km from Conakry, saw the corpses of three demonstrators shot dead by soldiers, in a second day of violent students protests.
Three more people died in the eastern town of Nzerekore, 970km south-east of Conakry, after troops shot at a protest against President Lansana Conte's government.
"Soldiers opened fire on a group of students who were marching on the governor's residence. Two people died there and a third student was killed at the Oumar Drame primary school," said a Nzerekore resident, who asked not to be identified.
A riot broke out in the provincial capital after students began to taunt police when it became clear that adjudicators for Monday's exams had not turned up, despite government reassurances the nationwide tests would go ahead.
In another area of Conakry students shouting "Down with the government" ransacked local education offices and rampaged through the streets, despite police efforts to contain them.
The general strike, which began on Thursday, was the latest action by unions leading opposition to Conte's disastrous economic management in mineral-rich Guinea.
Conte held an emergency meeting with union leaders on Monday, a presidential source said. The outcome was not immediately clear.
Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-06-12 22:41:31
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