Guinea bauxite mines paralysed on day 2 of strike

* CBG and RUSAL operations at a minimum * International group calls for ban on weapons in Guinea CONAKRY, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Mining operations in Guinea remained at a near-standstill on Tuesday in the second and final day of a general strike aimed at protesting against the recent killing of demonstrators by government security forces. The freeze in the No. 1 world bauxite exporter, which turned the normally-bustling capital of Conakry into a virtual ghost town, came as the international community reiterated its condemnation of the Sept. 28 bloodshed in which more than 150 people were killed protesting against Guinea's military rulers. The International Contact Group on Guinea, which met in the Nigerian federal capital Abuja on Monday, also called for a ban on all weapons outside of military barracks in Guinea in the hope of preventing further violence there. Rising turmoil in the West African nation poses a potential threat to investment and regional stability, particularly in neighboring Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, which are still healing from recent civil wars, analysts have said. The Guinea Bauxite Company (CBG), a massive joint venture between Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto and U.S. Alcoa , said on Tuesday that its operations had been cut back to a minimum as a result of the strike. "They managed to stop CBG activities. We can do no more than assure a minimum service level of the train and the port," a company official told Reuters. CBG is the world's largest single bauxite exporter, supplying some 13.7 million tonnes of Guinea's nearly 22 million tonnes of exports in 2008. A senior executive at Russia's UC RUSAL, which controls the remainder of Guinea's output, said its operations also remained cut to the bone. "There is still the blockade at Friguia. People are not coming to work," the executive said. "Only the workers needed to provide minimum service to prevent a complete shutdown of the plant are present," he said. Guinean trade unions called the strike for Monday and Tuesday to mark the killing of protesters in a stadium last month when security forces cracked down on a demonstration that had been organised by opposition to military government. The incident has drawn broad international condemnation of junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, who has angered his opponents by refusing to opt out of elections set for January. Camara took power after a coup last December, initially promising to transfer to civilian rule in a poll by the end of this year. The African Union has given Camara a mid-October deadline to declare he will remove himself from the election running or face sanctions. (Reporting by Saliou Samb; writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Keiron Henderson)