Touching The Void

Guinea, which has until now escaped the conflicts that have engulfed other states in the region, remains poised on the brink of collapse, as threats to the regime of ailing president Landasa Conté multiply. Rumours of the president's deteriorating condition has sparked fears of what will happen in the power vacuum that his death will create. With a weak democratic tradition (the country has had only two presidents since gaining independence from France in 1958) and a divided opposition, the ensuing chaos could easily see Guinea descend into the sort of vicious civil war seen in neighbouring Sierra Leone and

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