Conte warns army not to stage a coup

Guinea’s Head of State, Lansana Conté, has warned would-be coup-makers in the Guinean army to give up any ambitions they might have to take power. Speaking at weekend celebrations marking the 45th anniversary of the existence of the Guinean army, Conte said: "If any of you here think you are capable of becoming president, then form a political party, make yourself candidate and face the electorate." The president told his audience, which was largely made up of men and women in uniform, that 'small noises of a soldier president' had begun making the rounds at Camp Alimamay Samoury, the military headquarters, where the president himself has his offices. The head of state said leaflets were already being circulated in support of 'a soldier president'. He asked his countrymen not to "plunge this country into another Liberia, Sierra Leone or Ivory Coast". Acknowledging that he himself came to power through a coup d'état in 1984, Conte pointed out: "We did it in response to a call from the people at the time." Conté’s coup warning came as preparations get underway for presidential elections scheduled for next month. Conte himself has already been designated by his Party for Unity and Progress (PUP) as its candidate, despite his failing health. The president is known to suffer from diabetes and also has heart problems. Both have taken their toll in he past year, leaving the president an ailing man. It is for this reason that a number of opposition parties said they would prevent the president from running in the poll. According to the constitution adopted by Guinea in 1992, Conté was due to have bowed out of the political scene at the end of his second five year term. But a controversial referendum held in 2001 not only made Conté eligible to run again, but extended his term from five to seven years. Many of those opposed to the regime appeared to accept all this, but their silence many have been based on the assumption Conté had the army 100 percent behind him. But the president’s disclosure that sections of the army may be wanting to stage a coup against him, added a new element to the story. "This is a new ballgame altogether", an opposition politician told IRIN. The European Union (EU) HAS said it would not finance next month’s vote. The EU’s Special Representative to the Manu River Union (MRU) countries, Hans Dhalgren from Sweden, told IRIN that the EU had been "partners in development with Guinea for many years" but it "recently had some serious question marks as to the electoral system in this country." "We want to sort out these question marks before we continue this partnership," he said. Dhalgren said the EU would not finance the presidential election or send election observers to Guinea. He said the lack of an independent electoral commission, the opposition’s lack of access to state media and the limits placed on opposition parties had left the EU with little alternative. The Special Envoy, who met with both opposition parties and the government, said government ministers had talked about opening things up through inter party political dialogue. But Dhalgren warned that any government-opposition rapprochement would come too late for the EU to change its position. He ruled out the EU pushing for a new election date and said he had not heard any such suggestion from any quarter.