Guinea Dictator Lansana Conte; Resisted Democratic Wave in Africa

Guinea President Lansana Conte, who ruled the African nation with an iron hand since seizing power in a coup nearly a quarter-century ago, died of undisclosed causes Dec. 22, it was reported from Conakry, Guinea.

National Assembly President Aboubacar Sompare, flanked by the country's prime minister and the head of the army, announced on state-run television news of Mr. Conte's death. He was believed to be in his 70s, but the government has never disclosed his birth date. The cause of death was also undisclosed, but he was widely reported to have been diabetic and a chain smoker.

Mr. Conte was one of the last members of a dwindling group of "African Big Men" who came to power by the gun and resisted the democratic tide sweeping the continent.

He seized power in a military coup a week after the 1984 death of Ahmed Sekou Toure, Guinea's first president after gaining independence from France in 1958. Mr. Conte's official biography described the action as "an operation to safeguard and maintain peace in the country."

Mr. Conte quickly established himself as the sole leader of the military junta. He abandoned Toure's revolutionary socialist agenda but, like his predecessor, suppressed dissent.

As a post-Cold War democracy wave swept Africa, Mr. Conte formed a political party and in 1993 won the country's first multiparty presidential election. He was reelected in 1998 and 2003, though the opposition rejected the elections, protesting that they were flawed.

Guineau's 10 million people are among the poorest in the world, even though the nation holds half the world's reserves of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminum. It exported food at independence, but as corruption, inflation and high unemployment made it more impoverished, it had to begin importing food.

According to the constitution, the head of the National Assembly becomes president in the case of the death of the head of state. But transfers of power have rarely been smooth in Guinea, which has been crippled by corruption and rocked by multiple coups.

Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare called on the army to secure the nation's borders, while Sompare directed the country's courts to apply the law.

The two announcements, coupled by the presence of the head of the army, appeared to be an effort to signal that the government intended a peaceful transition.

The most serious recent challenge to Mr. Conte's rule came two years ago as demonstrators called for him to step down and Guinea descended into chaos.

Mr. Conte responded by declaring martial law and sent tanks into the capital streets. Security forces killed dozens of demonstrators.

The Reuters news agency reported that Mr. Conte was born to ethnic Soussou peasant parents about 1934 in Moussayah, in Guinea's northwest Dubreka prefecture. He joined the French army under colonial rule and gained promotions after Guinea became independent in 1958, Reuters reported.