Guinea President Lansana Conte has died following a lengthy illness, the National Assembly president said Tuesday, AP reported. Aboubacar Sompare, flanked by the country's prime minister and the head of the army, said on state-run television that Conte died Monday evening. He was believed to be in his 70s but the government has never disclosed his birth date. «I have the heavy duty of informing the people of Guinea of the death of Gen. Lansana Conte following a long illness,» said Sompare. Conte formed a political party and in 1993 won the country's first multi-party presidential election. He was re-elected in 1998 and 2003.
