Guinea’s long-ruling dictator, Lansana Conte, died after a lengthy illness, the head of the National Assembly announced early on Tuesday on state-run TV.
Conte, believed to be in his 70s, had ruled the West African nation with an iron fist since grabbing power in a 1984 coup to become the country’s second president.
National Assembly president Aboubacar Sompare, flanked by the country’s prime minister and the head of the army, appeared on state-run TV at about 2am to announce that Conte had died on Monday of an undisclosed illness.
”I have the heavy duty of informing the people of Guinea of the death of General Lansana Conte following a long illness,” said Sompare. ”I present my condolences to he who during all these years hid his physical suffering in order to give happiness to Guinea.”
Generations in Guinea had grown up knowing only his rule. Conte was one of the last members of a dwindling group of so-called ”African Big Men” who came to power by the gun and resisted the democratic tide sweeping the continent.
The 1984 coup came a week after the death on March 26 1984, of president Ahmed Sekou Toure, Guinea’s head of state since independence from France in 1958. Conte’s official biography described the action as ”an operation to safeguard and maintain peace in the country”.
Conte quickly established himself as the sole leader of the military junta. He abandoned Toure’s revolutionary socialist agenda, but like his predecessor suppressed dissent.
In his statement, Sompare called on the country’s courts to name him president. Guinea’s Constitution calls for the head of the National Assembly to take over in the event of the president’s death.
The fact that Sompare addressed the nation alongside the head of the armed forces allowed citizens to cautiously hope that the transfer of power will not be upended by a military coup. If so, it would defy expectations in a nation that two years ago descended into street warfare as demonstrators demanded that Conte step down, prompting the president to order tanks into the capital.
Though blessed with fertile land and rich mineral deposits — including half the world’s reserves of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminum — Guinea’s economy has rapidly deteriorated and its 10-million people have remained among the poorest in the world.
A food exporter at independence, Guinea turned to importing food as it became more impoverished, crippled by corruption, inflation and high unemployment. Conte’s unpopularity was reflected in revolts by disgruntled soldiers and at least two attempts to oust him.
As a post-Cold War democracy wave swept the continent, Conte formed a political party and won the country’s first multi-party presidential election in 1993. He was re-elected in 1998 and 2003, but all the
elections were viewed as flawed and rejected by Guinea’s beleaguered opposition.
During the last election, rumours of his failing health were growing.
He was reportedly so ill that he did not even get out of the car to cast his ballot. That winter, he was forced to go on TV to put a stop to the crescendoing rumors of his death. ”Everybody dies,” he told the
nation. ”Even the Prophet died. I will die when Allah wants me to.”
A similar wave of rumours began gathering force two weeks ago, when Conte failed to make his usual televised appearance on the occasion of a major Muslim holiday. The prime minister and others hurried to make appearances in his place, but people were on edge and numerous businesses shuttered their doors in anticipation of unrest.
Last week, the editor of a local paper was arrested after publishing a picture of the frail leader struggling to stand up. The newspaper was ordered to print a photograph of Conte, showing him in good health. – Sapa-AP