Tensions high in Guinea after new vote delay

By Joe Penney, For CNN

October 25, 2010 -- Updated 1715 GMT (0115 HKT)

Conakry, Guinea (CNN) -- Both candidates contending in Guinea's much-delayed runoff presidential elections called for calm from their supporters and traded accusations over the weekend after the runoff was postponed for the fourth time.

The West African nation's election was due on Sunday but was delayed indefinitely on Friday for technical reasons by new electoral commission head Gen. Siaka Toumani Sangare, a Malian national.

Fighting between supporters of the rival candidates Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Conde continued on Friday night and Saturday morning after Diallo's supporters claimed they were attacked by Conde's RPG supporters and Conde's supporters said they were sold poisoned water and yogurt at a large rally in the capital Friday afternoon.

Both candidates called news conferences Saturday to give their side of the story and call their activists to calm.

Two people were killed on Tuesday and dozens injured in clashes between supporters of Diallo's UFDG and police. Senior party members also said that one of its supporters was killed and another left in a coma after violence between UFDG and RPG loyalists on Thursday.

That violence continued into the weekend, and there were reports of security forces firing at civilians and raping at least one girl in Conakry's impoverished suburbs.

Experts and political leaders are worried about the prospect of ethnic polarization, as support for both parties is divided along ethnic lines. The two largest ethnic groups, Peul and Malinké form the principle bases of support for Diallo's UFDG party and Conde's RPG party respectively.

"What worries us is the excessive tribalization of the debate and the violence," Diallo said to reporters on Saturday.

Diallo's party also sees the Guinean state as biased against their party and complicit in the recent violence that has engulfed the capital.

"We need to be extremely careful because our country runs a big risk when politicians at the highest levels act they way they are acting today," Faya Minimono, a senior official of Diallo's UFDG party said Saturday.

The U.N. Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a statement Friday condemning what it saw as "excessive force" and ethnic-based violence carried out by Guinea security forces during the week.

"Some members of the security forces appear to be making threats, and even carrying out assaults, based on people's ethnicity or political affiliation," the report said.

Guinea, a former French colony, has never had a free and fair presidential election in its 52-year history. A military junta has ruled the country since taking power in a coup after the death of longtime autocrat Lansana Conte in December 2008.