Guinea leader calls on people, army to stay united

CONAKRY, Jan 21 (Reuters) Guinea's President Lansana Conte today called on the population and the army to remain united behind him after days of violent protests against his rule during a crippling general strike in the West African country.

Union leaders launched the 12-day-old stoppage because they say Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s, is unfit to govern. Clashes between protesters and the security forces have killed at least eight people across the world's top bauxite exporter.

''Those who want power must wait their turn. It is God who gives power and when he gives it to someone, everyone must stand behind him,'' the veteran president said in a speech broadcast on state radio.

''Guineans must remain united, above all us soldiers, because we must be proud of wearing the uniform, a sign of allegiance to defending the country,'' Conte said, speaking in the local Soussou language.

Conte seized power in Guinea in a 1984 coup and the strike poses the toughest challenge yet to his 23-year rule and threatens to throw the former French colony into turmoil, diplomats and analysts say.

The violence spread on Friday to the southern town of Nzerekore, more than 500 km from the capital Conakry, a region seen as particularly vulnerable because of its porous borders with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

West African heads of state voted at a meeting of the regional body ECOWAS late on Friday to send a high-level commission to Guinea to urge negotiations between the unions and the government.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo both volunteered to head the delegation, according to ECOWAS' new chairman, Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore.

REUTERS DKA PM1736