Celiou Dalein Diallo

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Cellou Dalein Diallo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cellou Dalein Diallo (born February 3, 1952[1]) is a Guinean economist and politician who was Prime Minister of Guinea from 2004 to 2006. Currently he is President of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), an opposition party.
Contents [hide]
1 Background and earlier career
2 Prime Minister
3 Opposition leader
4 References
[edit]Background and earlier career

Diallo, a member of the Fula ethnic group,[2][3] was born in the village of Dalein, near Labé. He studied at the University of Conakry and the Center for Financial, Economic and Banking Studies in Paris, and in 1976 he became an inspector of trade.[4] He began working at the Bank of Foreign Trade of Guinea in 1982,[2] and from 1985 to 1995 he worked at the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea.[2][4]
After briefly working at the Administration and Control of Great Projects (l’Administration et Contrôle des Grands Projets, ACGP),[2][4] Diallo joined the government in July 1996[1][4] as Minister of Transport, Telecommunications and Tourism. He was subsequently moved to the position of Minister of Infrastructure in October 1997, where he remained until[1] he was appointed Minister of Public Works and Transport on March 12, 1999.[5] After UTA Flight 141, a flight from Guinea, crashed in Cotonou, Benin in December 2003, Diallo said that there was no proof that his ministry had been neglectful of safety and that he would not resign.[6] After serving for five years as Minister of Public Works and Transport, he was moved to the position of Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture on February 23, 2004.[5]
[edit]Prime Minister

On December 9, 2004, Diallo was appointed as Prime Minister by Guinean President Lansana Conté.[1][2][7] The position of Prime Minister had previously been vacant since April 2004.[7] Diallo took office as Prime Minister on December 13.[1]
Diallo was viewed as a reformist and acquired a good international reputation. While in office, he worked against corruption.[3] On April 4, 2006, changes to the government which would have greatly increased Diallo's power were announced. These changes would have replaced a number of ministers with Diallo's own allies and would have placed Diallo personally in charge of several portfolios,[8][9] including those of economy, finance, international cooperation, and planning.[8] The decree approving the changes was said to be signed by President Conté,[8] but it was later speculated that Conté might not have realized the significance of what he was signing at the time.[3] A radio broadcast announcing the changes was interrupted by soldiers, which was said to be because the Secretary-General of the Presidency, Fodé Bangoura, had not been notified in advance.[9] On the next day, it was announced that Diallo's changes were reversed, and a few hours later it was announced that Diallo had been dismissed as Prime Minister "for serious misconduct".[8]
Although there were subsequently reports that Diallo had been placed under house arrest, he denied this in an interview with IRIN and thanked Conté for maintaining confidence in him during his time in the government.[3]
[edit]Opposition leader

On November 8, 2007, an opposition political party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), announced that it had appointed Diallo as its President, succeeding Mamadou Ba.[10] After he took office as the group's leader, Diallo said on November 15 that he believed that Conté would not run in the 2010 presidential election; he also said that he "always maintained good relations with General Lansana Conté and his family".[11]
Following the appointment of Ahmed Tidiane Souaré as Prime Minister, Diallo was present, along with other former ministers, when Souaré gave a press conference on May 22, 2008.[12] On May 28, he was one of the party leaders who met with Souaré to discuss the formation of a national unity government.[13]
Conté died in December 2008 and soldiers immediately seized power in a military coup d'état. About 20 soldiers searched Diallo's home on 1 January 2009, while holding Diallo and his family at gunpoint. According to Diallo, the search was based on suspicions that Diallo might have weapons and mercenaries as part of a coup plot, but he said that the soldiers did not take anything from his home.[14] A junta delegation met with Diallo on 2 January and condemned the search, saying that "uncontrollable elements out to hurt the junta" were to blame and that the junta had nothing to do with it.[15]
Diallo tried to hold a meeting in Kerouwame in June 2009, but the junta did not allow him to do so; it also would not let him stay overnight in Kankan.[16] After junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara suggested in August 2009 that he might stand as a presidential candidate in the planned 2010 election, Diallo urged him not to do so, saying that the election's "transparency and reliability ... require[d] the administration's neutrality and impartiality". After spending time in France and Senegal, he returned to Conakry on 13 September 2009 and was greeted at the airport by about 60,000 supporters.[17]
[edit]References

Two former prime ministers now in the opposition, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sidya Toure, were injured in the violence and then taken to a military campwhich serves as the junta's headquarters, according to Diallo's wife.BACK

GUINEA UNDER FIRE AFTER SCORES KILLED IN OPPOSITION CRACKDOWN
Received Tuesday, 29 September 2009 01:42:00 GMT
=3D(GRAPHIC+PICTURE)=3D
CONAKRY, Sept 29, 2009 (AFP) - International condemnation mounted Tuesday after security forces in the world's top bauxite producer Guinea shot deadleast 87 people protesting against a junta leader who seized power in December.
The outcry boiled over amid reports that troops were reportedly removingbodies in the seaside capital Conakry to hide the scale of the bloodshed.
"There are 87 bodies that were collected in and around the stadium afterthe military came through," a police source said, referring to the venue ofMonday's rally and speaking on condition of anonymity.
There are currently 47 bodies at the Samory Toure military camp in Conakry, four of them women, the source said.
After crushing the protest against junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, military commanders issued instructions for all bodies from the demonstration at a city stadium to be taken to the Alpha Yaya Diallo military camp, rather than to morgues, a Red Cross source told AFP.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon slammed the "excessive use of force" and said he was "shocked by the loss of life, the high number of people injured and the destruction of property."
Former colonial ruler France condemned "the violent repression exercised by the army against the opposition and civil society during a peaceful demonstration held in Conakry."
Paris called on the junta to "show responsibility and to listen to theGuinean people's legitimate aspiration to democratically choose their leaders," and said Camara not standing for re-election "would allow for calm to return."
A senior US official in Washington said: "We're deeply concerned about the general breakdown in security in Conakry. We urge the Guinean government toexercise restraint and ensure the safety and security of Guinean and foreign nationals in accordance with universally accepted standards of human rights." The International Federation of Human Rights cited reports of several bodies with bullet marks arriving in Conakry hospitals and urged world bodies, including the United Nations and the African Union, to help stop the executions by what it said was an "illegitimate regime."
A source at Conakry's Ignace Deen hospital told AFP that an army truck had come by to pick up "dozens of bodies" to be taken to "an unknown destination" after presidential guards violently evacuated several thousand people out to demonstrate in defiance of a ban.
"It's butchery! There are dozens of dead," said another doctor who askednot to be named.
The protesters had gathered to oppose any bid by the junta leader, who took power in December 2008, to run for president in elections due next January.Camara is also under strong international pressure to step down.
In his first public comment on the violence, Camara told Senegal's RFMradio station that "I wanted to go (and see what was happening), I was soreally disgusted when I was told" about the violence.
"I'd rather die (than see people killed) because I didn't take control of this country to have a confrontation," Camara said, speaking in disjointedsentences.
Two former prime ministers now in the opposition, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sidya Toure, were injured in the violence and then taken to a military campwhich serves as the junta's headquarters, according to Diallo's wife.
The houses of the two men were pillaged by soldiers, their neighbours said.
"There was a deliberate attempt today to eliminate all the opponents,"Toure, who had suffered head injuries in the crackdown, told AFP.
Demonstrators had begun to gather outside Conakry's largest stadium, which was guarded by large numbers of police. Protesters carried placards reading"No to Dadis" and "Down with the army in power."
The junta banned the demonstration, but several political parties, tradeunions and civic organisations vowed that the event would go ahead.
In the middle of the morning, riot police charged the protesters.
News of the ban came a day after Camara made his first visit outside thecapital since he took power in a coup last December, travelling to Guinea'ssecond city and opposition stronghold of Labe.
Camara installed himself at the helm of the francophone West African nation after leading a bloodless coup within hours of the death of Guinea's strongman leader Lansana Conte, who had been in power since 1984.