Guinea opposition to resume protests over contested vote

Guinean opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo on Thursday said protests would resume next week over disputed local elections in February as he called off negotiations with the government.

Demonstrations over the results of that vote have claimed at least 15 lives.

The opposition was in talks with the government but Diallo, who met President Alpha Conde in on April 2, accused the authorities of dragging their feet.

He announced a new strike on Monday in the capital Conakry, adding: “We are suspending dialogue… because we have noticed a lack of will on the part of our adversaries to find consensus on the electoral differences.”

He said the government was “sticking to its position by saying it cannot change the results announced by the independent national election commission”, or CENI.

“The results do not remotely reflect the real outcome,” he said, adding that the “choice of the citizens in voting stations supercedes all other considerations.”

The February election was the first of its kind since a military dictatorship ended a decade ago. It followed eight years of delays blamed on lack of funds, political infighting and the 2013-16 Ebola crisis.