Guinea poll loser calls for calm

The defeated candidate in Guinea’s presidential election, Cellou Dalein Diallo, has called for calm following violence about the election results.

He said he would challenge in court the provisional results, which saw veteran opposition leader Alpha Conde take more than 52% of the votes.

The BBC’s Alhassan Sillah in Conakry says tensions are high in the capital and sporadic gunfire can be heard.

The election aims to mark the end of 52 years of authoritarian rule.

But since the first round in June, won by Mr Diallo – a former prime minister – the process has been marred by violence and delays.

According to the electoral commission, Mr Conde received 1.47 million votes in the country’s 28 districts, against 1.3 million votes, or 47.5%, for Mr Diallo.

After the announcement of the results on Monday night, Mr Conde, 72, reached out to Mr Diallo, saying: “The time has come to join hands.

“I dedicate this victory to all Guineans without any distinction – to all of you who voted for me and to all of those who made a different choice,” he said.

“Time has come to work together in a spirit of concordance and fraternity. I will be the president of change. I will the president of national reconciliation and progress.”

But our reporter says the celebrations of Mr Conde’s supporters were marred by earlier violence on Monday.

Despite a ban on political demonstrations, Mr Diallo’s supporters took to the street, burnt tyres and set up barricades in parts of the capital. Several people were arrested and injured in clashes with riot police.

On Tuesday morning, residents in some parts of the capital were too scared to attend special prayers for the Eid al-Adha religious festival, our correspondent says.

But observers fear that Mr Diallo may to be able to control the streets.

The former prime minister has said he would mount a challenge to the results in the Supreme Court.

“We must, at all costs, maintain peace in this country,” he told Radio France International, Reuters news agency reports.

Before the run-off both candidates, who come from Guinea’s two largest ethnic groups, the Peul and Malinke, had promised to include each other in government.

Mr Diallo gained 44% of the first round vote in June, compared with 18% for Mr Conde. The opposition leader later complained of fraud.

Guinea has been led since January by the interim government of Gen Sekouba Konate, who took over from the leaders of a 2008 coup.

The military seized power after the death of autocratic President Lansana Conte, who ruled the mineral-rich state for 24 years.

Guinea is the world’s largest exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite, yet the country is one of the poorest in West Africa.

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