Guinea soldiers march, fire in air in Conakry

CONAKRY, May 11 (Reuters) Guinean soldiers demanding better work conditions marched through the capital Conakry today, firing their weapons into the air, as a barracks pay protest spilled out onto the streets, witnesses said.

Passers-by fled in panic, shops and banks closed their shutters, and workers and motorists rushed to get home as the heavily armed group headed to the centre of the sprawling coastal capital of the world's top bauxite exporter.

The military unrest, which triggered protests inside several major garrisons last week, poses a direct challenge to the authority of Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate's new government, which was installed in March.

His administration is still struggling to establish its rule over the poor West African state, which was rocked by violent strikes in January and February directed by unions against President Lansana Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s.

At least 137 people were killed in the riots earlier this year, mostly demonstrators shot by soldiers and police.

Witnesses said the marching group of protesting soldiers today apparently wanted to present their grievances to the government and the president.

''They've passed by Conakry airport. I saw some of them had grenade-launchers,'' one witness, who asked not to be named, said. Police confirmed shots had been fired today.

A police spokesman said two people were killed overnight when angry soldiers opened fire, mostly into the air, inside Conakry's main military barracks and in the southeastern city of Gueckedou.

At least one person was killed last week by stray bullets fired by the protesting soldiers.

''The soldiers are demanding the departure of several senior officers in the army, whom they blame for their bad living conditions,'' the police spokesman said.

President Conte, whose recent ailing health has fuelled political instability in Guinea, has relied on the armed forces to bolster his autocratic rule since seizing power in a 1984 coup, occasionally leaving him at their mercy.

Soldiers used heavy weaponry to bombard the presidential palace during a 1996 mutiny to demand higher wages.

Diplomats question how long the army, riven by generational and ethnic divisions, will remain loyal in the face of increasingly vocal opposition to Conte.

REUTERS SYU KP2048