President Conte leaves for private visit to Cuba

Guinean President Lansana Conte has flown to Cuba for a private visit of undetermined length amid speculation that the ailing leader has gone to seek medical treatment ahead of elections in December, when he will seek a fresh seven-year term. The 69-year-old former army colonel is rarely seen in public these days, he warned a conference of his ruling Party of Unity and Progress (PUP) last month which unanimously endorsed him as the PUP presidential candidate that he did not plan to go out on the campaign trail. Diplomats say Conte suffers from diabetes and heart trouble and often has difficulty walking. The president left for Cuba on Wednesday morning. After staying at home for more than a year, this is his second overseas trip trip in less than a month. In September Conte made a private six-day visit to Milan in Italy and Rabat in Morocco, during which he was also widely believed to have received medical treatment. Meanwhile, Guinea's fragmented opposition is still considering whether or not to contest the December elections. Six leading opposition parties grouped in the Republican Front for Democratic Change (FRAD) have threatened not to take part unless the government appoints an independent electoral commission to supervise the vote and gives them free access to state radio and television. For the past two months the government has conducted an on-off dialogue with opposition parties to try and persuade them to take part in the poll. This took a bizarre twist on Wednesday when Momoh Soumah, the treasurer of the ruling PUP, unexpectedly delivered a report on behalf of a special inter-party committee set up to look into the electoral process. Momoh said the committee had recommended retaining the present electoral commission led by Rashid Toure. "Dr Toure and his team are experienced enough to continue in the job," he said. The report was due to have been delivered by Albert Gomez, the Anglican bishop of Conakry, the chairman of the committee. But Soumah took charge of the proceedings, saying that the bishop was unable to turn up because "it seemed had other things occupying him." However, an irate Bishop Gomez arrived in the hall shortly afterwards complaining that he had not been informed of the meeting."I was around all of the time, but no one contacted me," he told interior minister Moussa Solano, who has been chairing the inter-party dialogue. "I am in the church yes, but I could always leave there to attend calls to national duty". One opposition politician told IRIN afterwards: "This just shows you how they will go to every length to perpetuate themelves in power." Conte came to power in this former French colony of 7.5 million people in a 1984 coup and has ruled the country with an iron hand ever since. Opposition parties accuse him of having rigged all previous elections.