Guinea holds hundreds under martial law-opposition

CONAKRY, Feb 18 (Reuters) Hundreds of people have been arrested in Guinea since President Lansana Conte imposed martial law this week, opposition leaders and human rights groups said today.

The reclusive Conte declared the state of emergency on Monday to counter a wave of violent protests and a general strike called by unions opposed to his 23-year rule in the West African country, which is the world's top exporter of bauxite, used to make aluminium.

More than 120 people have been killed, almost all of them civilians, in protests since the start of the year. Human rights groups accuse security forces of firing on unarmed crowds, beating protestors, looting and raping civilians.

''We have counted 278 arrests since the start of martial law,'' said Mohamed Diane, secretary general of the opposition Assembly of the People of Guinea.

Thierno Maadjou Sow, president of Guinea's Human Rights League, said: ''We have been informed of hundreds of arrests but we are still in the process of checking to have our own precise figures.'' Sow said his organisation was also investigating reports of the death of 22 prisoners in the town of Nzerekore, in Guinea's volatile south-eastern border area with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

MARTIAL LAW Measures taken by the military, including an 18-hour curfew, have restored relative calm across the former French colony but foreign governments including the United States and France, as well as the Pope, have called for an end to the heavy-handed tactics and for political dialogue.

Union leaders pulled out of talks with the government yesterday, saying they would not negotiate as long as martial law and human rights abuses continued.

A senior police officer, who asked not to be identified, said that media reports of nearly 500 arrests were exaggerated.

''We do not have enough space in Guinea for that many prisoners,'' he said.

The 53-nation African Union called on Friday for an independent inquiry into alleged human rights abuses by Guinea's security forces.

Guinean Justice Minister Alseny Rene Gomez rejected the call, saying the West African state had already opened its own inquiry.

The unions have refused to take part.

Many Guinean citizens have applauded the measures taken by the military to restore order after last weekend's protests gave way to looting and banditry.

The latest wave of protests erupted a week ago when Conte named a close ally as prime minister. Unions said the appointment violated a power-sharing deal struck to end an 18-day strike last month.

Bauxite production and deliveries from the national bauxite company CBG, the world's largest exporter, resumed on Friday after martial law was lifted in the area around its mine.

CBG is part-controlled by US firm Alcoa and Canada's Alcan.

REUTERS AB BD2215