Siradiou Diallo

Siradiou Diallo (born August 25, 1936 in Labé , † March 14, 2004 in Paris ) was a journalist and opposition politician in Guinea , West Africa .

Political career

Diallo came from Labé in the prefecture Labé in the center of the country. He studied economics at the universities in Dakar , Poitiers and Paris . After graduating in 1967, he worked for the Banque Nationale de Paris and the French Ministry of Finance, among others . In addition, he was mainly active as a journalist and from 1970 worked for the magazine Jeune Afrique , up to the position of editor-in-chief.

In parallel to his journalistic activities, he organized an opposition against the regime of Ahmed Sékou Touré in exile and founded, among other things, the Comité de Réflexion sur la Démocratie en Guinée (CRDG). After Touré's death, he returned to Guinea in 1984. In 1991 he became general secretary of the Parti Guinéen du Progrès (PGP) and one year later founded the Parti du Renouveau et du Progrès (PRP). The pressure of the growing opposition led President Lansana Conté , who came to power through a bloodless coup to power, to allow political parties from April 1992. The 1993 presidential election in Guinea broke out and the opposition accused the government of electoral fraud .

From 1995 Diallo was a member of the Assemblée Nationale.

For the presidential election in Guinea in 1998 - after Conté's five-year term of office - the PRP Diallos stood for election together with the Union pour la Nouvelle République (UNR) Mamadou Bahs as Union pour le Progrès et le Renouveau (UPR). The joint candidacy of the two Fulbe politicians, however, exacerbated ethnic conflicts. At the same time, the planned expulsion of over a hundred thousand people (mostly Fulbe) from a district of Conakry in 1998 alienated the Fulbe from the Conté regime. There were violent protests and clashes between the population, opposition and police.

In the 2002 parliamentary elections, Diallos UPR won 20 of the 114 seats and became - after the other major opposition parties boycotted the election - the second largest force in the Assemblée Nationale. In 2003 UPR leader Diallo went on a national election tour ahead of the presidential election . Among other things, he responded to the allegation that the UPR had concluded a secret agreement with the government. This allegation arose in connection with the decision of the EU , the development aid for Guinea because of the presence of the opposition in Parliament UPR not withdraw. In the absence of fairness, however, all major opposition parties, including the UPR, boycotted the elections.

Diallo died of cardiac arrest on March 14, 2004 in Paris at the age of 68.

Publications

• Houphouët Boigny, le président paysan . Editions Jeune Afrique, Paris 1980
• Le Zaire aujourd'hui . Editions Jeune Afrique, Paris 1984

Web links

• Union pour le Progrès et le Renouveau (with biography of Siadiou Diallos) (French)