The Guinea Supreme Court last Thursday confirmed Alpha Conde, leader of the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG), winner of the 7 November presidential run-off vote in the country. The 72-year-old Conde therefore becomes the fifth president of the Republic of Guinea, following the Supreme Court announcement which barely beat the Thursday midnight dateline set for the release of the results.

The recent upheaval in Guinea has delayed the disposal of toxic chemicals discovered earlier this year at several sites throughout the capital Conakry, according to UN experts.

Fana Soumah, a television newscaster with the state-owned Guinean Broadcasting Corporation, was violently assaulted by a soldier in Conakry, the Guinean capital, the sub-regional rights body, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), said in a statement.

Following the troubling deaths of Guineans under the repressive rule of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, Okello Oculi argues that Camara's action represents the latest incident of a 'lethal psychotic disorder' manifested by an African leader. Camara's actions are reminiscent of those of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Oculi contends, and necessitate an immediate response from ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group).

Reporters Without Borders have condemned the closure of privately-owned radio FM Liberté by members of the presidential guard, who ransacked the Conakry-based station, roughed up employees and arrested a journalist and a technician. A unit of presidential guard “Red Berets” burst into the studios of FM Liberté in the Conakry district of Kaloum at 11:40 a.m.on Tuesday while the “Matinée Plurielle” programme was being broadcast.

A four-day workshop has ended in Conakry, Guinea. The meeting brought together around twenty-five participants from countries, including Argentina, the Caribbean, and the Netherlands, and with most of them civil society activists. Other participants included one person from the ACP Secretariat, and a consultant who gave a presentation on the Guinean situation with regard to EPAs. The aim of the meeting was for NGOs to strategise around the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that the EU is negotiating with 77 countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group, and which the EU would like to launch in 2008.

A pall of heavy smoke from thousands of backyard bonfires lit to chase away an evil spirit has created a foul atmosphere in the Guinean capital Conakry. Health workers and environmentalists have appealed over the radio for people to put out the fires, which have clogged the air with pollution for several days.