CONAKRY: Multinational firms have fought for years to control Guinea's enormous mineral wealth, leaving the future president with a totally corrupt sector to clean up, according to critics in civil society. “We are the world's second largest bauxite producer, we have iron ore reserves envied by everybody, we have gold, diamonds, oil, etc. But we vegetate in misery. We lack even water and electricity,” said Mamadou Taran Diallo, president of the Guinean coalition of Publish What You Pay, a global initiative. The president scheduled to be elected Sunday, amid hopes that he will turn the poor west African country around after decades of dictatorship or military rule, “should carry out a clean-up,” said Diallo. “This is a battle. It has to be fought and won, this time,” he warned, in remarks aimed at the two candidates, former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo and veteran opposition figure Alpha Conde. – Agence France
