African Independence Leaders & Post-Colonial Figures Codexery

Lansana Conté

Guinean military officer who became president and ruled from 1984 to 2008.

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Lansana Conté

via Wikipedia: Guinea · see source

He came to power through a coup d'état on 3 April 1984, one week after the death of Guinea's first president.[1] Lansana Conté, a military officer and politician from Guinea, held the position of the nation's second president from 1984 up to his death in 2008.[2]

Life and work

On 4 July 1985, soldiers loyal to Conté thwarted a counter-coup while he was attending an ECOWAS summit in Lomé, Togo.[3] In January 2007, a general nationwide strike protesting Conté's leadership left at least 90 protesters dead by the end of the strike on 27 January, according to a local human rights group.[4][5] Conté, who was from the Susu ethnic group and born in Moussayah Loumbaya (Dubréka), thought his birth year was 1934.[6] Conté took advantage of the situation to remove Malinké ethnic group soldiers who were his rivals, among them the former Prime Minister Diarra Traoré.[3]

On 19 December 1993, Guinea held its first multi-party presidential election since independence; Conté, running for the Unity and Progress Party, secured 51.7% of the vote.[7] In the presidential election of 21 December 2003, Conté achieved a third term with 95.6% of the vote, a result influenced by a boycott from all but one of his opponents.[7] Many people had doubts about Conté's capacity to complete another full term because his health was deteriorating, as he had diabetes and heart conditions.[8] On 19 January 2005, an apparent failed assassination attempt occurred when shots were reportedly fired at Conté's motorcade, resulting in one bodyguard being wounded.[9]

What the cited sources add

AFP reported that Conté was a chain smoker who suffered from chronic diabetes and was at one time diagnosed with leukemia.[1] Amnesty International documented that within a little over a year of Conté's accession to office in April 1984, the organization was raising concerns about new cases of "disappearances" with the military government.[10] Amnesty International noted that 63 prisoners arrested in 1984 and 1985 remained unaccounted for after an unsuccessful coup attempt in July 1985.[10] The AFP account of Conté's funeral stated that General Mamadou Ba Toto Camara of the junta paid homage to Conté, whose 24-year rule was marked by corruption, rigged elections and the repression of protest.[11]

The BBC reported that tens of thousands of Guineans and presidents from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast attended Conté's funeral in Conakry.[12]

References

  1. "Guinea's long-time military leader Conte dies", AFP, 23 December 2008.. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Lansana Conté" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Biography of Lansana Conte ~ Biography"; "Guinea's long-time military leader Conte dies", AFP, 23 December 2008. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Lansana Conté" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Republic of Guinea: Summary of Amnesty International's concerns since April 1984"; Sarah, "God or Nothing: A Conversation in Faith with Nicholas Diat", Ignatius Press, 2015, p. 54; Whiteman, "General Lansana Conté", The Guardian, 24 December 2008 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Lansana Conté" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Guinea strike over sick president", 10 January 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Lansana Conté" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Guinea union chief calls off strike", Al Jazeera, 28 January 2007. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Lansana Conté" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hodonou, Valentin (2004) "Guinea-Conakry Adrift" African Geopolitics No. 14; McGreal, "Lansana Conté profile: Death of an African 'Big Man'", The Guardian, 23 December 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Lansana Conté" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Elections in Guinea, African Elections Database. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Lansana Conté" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "GUINEA: Ailing Conte is sworn in for another seven term", IRIN, 20 January 2004. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Lansana Conté" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Conte unhurt in shooting, hints at discord", IRIN, 20 January 2005. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "Republic of Guinea: Summary of Amnesty International's concerns since April 1984". facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
  11. "Guinea junta praises late dictator, woos foreign critics", AFP, 26 December 2008.. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
  12. "Guinea junta seeks to woo envoys", BBC News, 27 December 2008. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Lansana Conté (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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