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Guinea alumina trains resume after protests

Friday, Nov 07, 2008
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CONAKRY, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Trains carrying alumina for export from Guinea's Conakry port resumed on Wednesday following fuel-price protests that a human rights group said resulted in four deaths. Police and a company official said the trains from Russian aluminium maker RUSAL's Friguia refinery were running again after being stopped temporarily because of the protests. "The train has restarted," said an employee in Friguia's administration who declined to be named. The company's head office in Moscow denied earlier on Wednesday there had been any disruption to the trains. Violent protests over a less-than-anticipated cut in fuel prices have gripped the coastal city since Monday, but Police Commissioner Abou Camara said outlying districts of Conakry were quieter by Wednesday evening. Company officials in Guinea said rocks and debris on the railway tracks, as well as the destruction of a safety barrier, had forced trains to be halted late on Tuesday for safety reasons. "Calm has returned and we have removed the blocks of rock that were obstructing the railway," he told Reuters. Guinea is the world's top exporter of bauxite, the raw ore used to make aluminium, but most of its people remain poor. Friguia is the only plant in Guinea which refines bauxite into alumina, which is then exported to be smelted into aluminium. Friguia is forecast to produce 527,000 tonnes of alumina this year. FOUR REPORTED KILLED IN PROTESTS Conakry suburbs were worst hit by this week's protests, in which crowds of youths blocked streets with burning barricades and pelted rocks at police and soldiers, who fired live rounds and tear gas in response. U.S.-based campaign group Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday at least four people had been killed and 20 wounded during the protests, saying security forces had beaten protestors, robbed residents and fired live bullets that strayed beyond the demonstrators and killed one civilian. "Once again, Guinea's security forces have responded with excessive use of force, and once again lives have been senselessly lost," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. Security sources in Conakry confirmed at least two deaths. State television reported late on Tuesday that hundreds of youths had been arrested for taking part in the protests. More than 130 people were killed early last year during a violent general strike against President Lansana Conte's then 23-year-old rule, most of them shot dead by soldiers and police. Guinea's government said on Tuesday it had launched negotiations to end the fuel protests after the minister of security visited the suburbs affected by rioting. "There is a wish on our part to revise the price of fuel downwards," said government spokesman Tibou Kamara. Conakry's governor outlawed public gatherings until further notice on Sunday after the government cut fuel prices by around 20 percent -- far less than the fall of more than 50 percent since world oil prices reached record highs in July. Before this week's protests, residents angry over poor public services had twice deliberately halted bauxite export trains in other parts of the country in the past month. At least one person was killed during each of those protests.

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