A general strike in Guinea will end from Tuesday after President Lansana Conte agreed to choose a new prime minister from a list proposed by opponents, union leaders said today.
"The strike will be lifted," union negotiator Ousmane Souare said after the breakthrough was announced following several days of intense negotiations brokered by West African mediators.
The deal was struck after Mr Conte, dropping a previous refusal, agreed to pick a new premier from a list of names drawn up by union leaders, political parties and civil society representatives.
It signalled the end of a stoppage that has gripped the West African nation, the world's top exporter of bauxite, used to make aluminium, since February 12th, following an earlier strike in January.
The breakthrough followed the lifting of martial law at midnight on Friday after Guinea's parliament refused a request from Mr Conte to extend a state of emergency enforced by the armed forces to prevent street protests.
Sources involved in the negotiations said Mr Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s whose opponents say is unfit to rule, would announce his choice of premier from the list by March 2nd.
The strike triggered violent clashes with security forces across the country, killing more than 120 people since it first began in January, most of them unarmed civilians.
The industrial action was initially suspended after Mr Conte agreed to name a consensus prime minister but the unions resumed their strike on February 12th after the president broke the deal by promoting a close ally, Eugene Camara, to be premier. Under the deal struck, Mr Camara will now be replaced.