New plan for Guinea wanted

2009-11-03 20:10

Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso's president, mediating in Guinea after a massacre in September, on Tuesday called on the opposition, labour unions and civil society to devise an alternative to the junta.

"President (Blaise) Compaore asked us to make concrete proposals for the transition, notably setting up another organ (in place of the military junta) to run the transition, the electoral process and conditions of eligibility," the leader of the New Democratic Forces of Guinea (NFD), Mamadou Mouctar Diallo, told journalists.

"He asked us to take two days or more to come up with concrete proposals," Diallo said.

"After listening to the (opposition) Forces Vives, he wants to hear out the government on all that has happened.

"He wants to listen to all the parties concerned, and then he is going to present us with a synthesis," Diallo added.

Talks with leaders, unions

Compaore was named mediator in Guinea last month by his west African peers, and on Tuesday he held talks in Guinea with political leaders, trade union officials and representatives of civil society in a conference room in the presidential palace.

The UN secretary general's representative for west Africa, Said Djinnit, and a delegate from the African Union, Ibrahima Fall, were also present, an AFP journalist said.

The talks follow the massacre in a Conakry stadium on September 28 of more than 150 people who had rallied to persuade junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara not to stand in elections he announced for January.

Camara on Tuesday announced a new commission of enquiry into the killings, but disclaimed responsibility for the action of the troops concerned. He also pledged to cooperate fully with a UN probe and urged dialogue among all Guineans to bring the country out of crisis.

Humanitarian rule

But the opposition forces gathered in Ouagadougou have demanded since the massacre that the junta step down.

It has been in power since December 23, 2008, a few hours after the death of hardline president Lansana Conte.

"He (Compaore) has fortunately understood the situation in Guinea. He has expressed the urgency of finding a solution to the Guinean problem," Diallo said.

"We will at the latest tomorrow (Wednesday) give the mediator all our proposals concerning solutions to end the crisis," said the spokesperson of the Forces Vives coalition of civic associations, Aboubacar Sylla.

"But we have the intention of submitting to him a question that strikes us as a priority and a very important one. It's the question of humanitarian rule and public safety."
 

- SAPA