Guinea president names new PM to ward off strike

CONAKRY, Feb 10 (Reuters) Guinean President Lansana Conte named Eugene Camara, a senior member of his ruling party, as the country's new prime minister a move meant to appease unions threatening to relaunch a crippling general strike.

Strike leaders, who say Conte is no longer fit to rule after 23 years in power, had given the president until Monday to name a new prime minister, as he agreed to do in a deal struck two weeks ago to end an 18-day nationwide stoppage.

''Mr Eugene Camara, currently minister of state in charge of presidential affairs, is named prime minister, head of government,'' Conte said in a decree read on state television.

One of the unions' main negotiators, Boubacar Biro Barry, declined to say whether the strike order would immediately be lifted, saying union leaders would meet today to discuss Conte's announcement.

''I have no comment to make ahead meeting,'' he told Reuters.

A renewed strike would again hit the foreign-operated bauxite and alumina industry, Guinea's biggest income earner.

Despite the country's mineral riches, most of the nearly 10 million population live in poverty.

The last strike led to food shortages and triggered violent protests against Conte's rule in towns across the former French colony. Rights campaigners say at least 90 people were killed in the unrest, most of them shot by police and soldiers.

Strike leaders had not specified who they wanted to be prime minister, but said the candidate had to be free from the allegations of corruption that have tainted Conte's recent administrations.

TENSIONS HIGH One of Guinea's main opposition leaders, Mamadou Ba, dismissed the nomination of Camara, a senior member of the ruling party, as an empty gesture.

''This is a provocation, and as from Monday we will demonstrate,'' he told Reuters.

In the past it has been the unions rather than Guinea's fragmented opposition which has mobilised demonstrators.

Those who could afford to stocked up on food in the capital Conakry earlier yesterday, fearing Conte -- a reclusive diabetic in his 70s -- would fail to meet the unions' demands in time.

''I am buying enough cooking oil, rice and a few spices to last for several days. We don't know where this fight is going to take us,'' said Madina Bah, a bank employee shopping at the Niger market in the centre of the oceanside city.

Fed up with months of uncertainty, many Guineans are growing ever more angry with Conte, whose rule has been based on the support of the military since he seized power in 1984.

Residents and police officials said youths attacked local government offices yesterday in Dinguiraye, in the centre of the country, and Coyah, 50 km northeast of Conakry, smashing windows before the security forces restored order.

The last strike was the third in a year and brought Guinea, where most people eke out a difficult day to day living, to a standstill as market stalls stood empty, transport came to a halt and prices for rice, bread and even stock cubes rocketed.

REUTERS DKS BST0442