Guinea parliament rejects prolonging martial law

CONAKRY, Feb 23 (Reuters) Guinea's parliament today refused a request from President Lansana Conte to extend martial law in a rare act of defiance against his autocratic rule over the West African country.

The period of martial law, imposed nationwide 11 days ago to quell violent protests accompanying a general strike, was due to expire later today, but the president had asked the National Assembly to prolong it, citing security concerns.

''The assembly deputies present unanimously refuse to renew martial law,'' National Assembly President Aboubacar Sompare told parliament after a vote on Conte's request.

This meant the martial law measures, which gave the military sweeping powers of search and arrest and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew, would cease at midnight today.

Union leaders say Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s who has ruled since 1984, is unfit to govern. They are demanding he appoint a new, neutral head of government with powers to hire and fire his own ministers.

They had argued Conte's plan to extend martial law would serve only to radicalise popular opposition to him and said their strike would continue until he named a new prime minister.

''We had to go in the direction of appeasement to maintain peace and national unity,'' Soriba Sorel Camara, a senior official from Conte's ruling PUP party, said after the vote.

The opposition heralded the vote as a historic victory.

''It is the first time that such a controversial decree has been rejected unanimously,'' parliamentary opposition leader Ousmane Bah told Reuters.

NEW PRIME MINISTER Strike leaders relaunched their stoppage after Conte chose a close ally, Eugene Camara, as prime minister despite having agreed to name a consensus figure as part of an earlier deal.

''The problem now centres on getting a consensus prime minister. If one is named today, the impasse will be unblocked immediately,'' union negotiator Boubacar Biro Barry said after a meeting with West African mediators.

More than 120 people, mostly unarmed civilians, have been killed since the beginning of the year in clashes between security forces and protesters.

The imposition of martial law restored some calm to the former French colony, keeping protesters off the streets by giving the army the right to shoot looters and troublemakers.

The unrest in Guinea has raised concerns that growing protests could shatter a fragile peace in the wider region, particularly in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia, which are just starting to recover from civil wars.

Nigeria's former military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida, who is leading a delegation from the West African regional body ECOWAS for the second time in a week, met union leaders on Friday to push for a negotiated settlement.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said Conte must work with all parties to stop the political crisis deteriorating into bloodshed and threatening neighbour states.

''If anything happens to Guinea, it could spill over. All our borders are porous,'' she told Reuters in an interview in Rwanda.

REUTERS SAM RK2312