"Guinean leaders agree new government"

      - Wed Mar 28 2007  AFP

  CONAKRY (AFP) - Guinean leaders agreed Wednesday on the formation of a new government in a bid to end months of unrest and political crisis in the troubled west African nation, public television reported.

  "The president (Lansana Conte) has signed a decree on the proposition of Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate nominating new members of the Guinean government," announced a journalist for Radio-television Guinea (RTG).

  The report went on to list the new government which contained none of the previous ministers and was composed of 19 ministerial portfolios but no state ministers or secretaries.

  No political party is represented in the government and most of the ministers are civilian technocrats unknown to the general public.

  A former senior economist at the International Monetary Fund, Ousmane Dore, was handed the key position as finance minister, while the foreign affairs portfolio went to lawyer Abdoul Kabele Camara.

  Two trade union figures Ousmane Souare and Amadou Diallo were given charge respectively of the education and science ministries.

  Kouyate was inaugurated on March 1 to replace Eugene Camara whose appointment last month sparked widespread unrest and a bloody crackdown that claimed 113 lives.

  His appointment, backed by a consensus from the political parties, was in line with a deal secured by the powerful trade unions and the Conakry authorities.

  Camara held office for less than three weeks and had to be removed after the protests which saw Conte put Guinea under martial law for 12 days.

  The normally compliant parliament unanimously voted down the emergency measures 11 days later before crisis talks that were successfully brokered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

  Kouyate will have more powers than his predecessors to run the government of a nation ravaged by economic and political crisis. Conte took power in 1984 and long ruled with an iron fist, but suffers now from diabetes and memory lapses.

  At 56-years-old, former UN diplomat Kouyate has been entrusted with enlarged powers as the official head of the government, a role previously held by the presidents after independence from France in 1958.

  His task will be to tackle serious economic and social problems that fed anger among Guinea's 9.4 million people at official corruption and erupted into a political showdown.

  The global watchdog Transparency International last November rated Guinea the most corrupt country in Africa.

  Despite vast mineral resources, including bauxite, used to produce aluminium, Guinea is rated among the world's 20 most poverty-stricken countries.