Parliamentary speakers call for Conde's release

Speakers of West African parliaments ended their second conference in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Friday with a call for the "immediate and unconditional release" of Guinean opposition leader Alpha Conde, PANA reported. Conde, a third-place candidate in Guinea's presidential election in 1998, has been in detention without trial since 16 December the same year. He is being held on suspicion of "undermining internal security, utilisation of the armed force and complicity," PANA added, and is due to stand trial on 12 April. Numerous appeals for his release have been made by foreign and domestic personalities. Meanwhile, PANA said, the meeting adopted a charter of the conference of West African speakers, ahead of the envisaged creation of the ECOWAS parliament. Sixteen countries make up the Economic Community Of West African States, although Mauritania has given notice it will leave. Delegates also called for the creation of some form of parity between existing currencies, as a step towards a single currency in the community. Eight countries - all of them but Guinea-Bissau former French colonies - are members of the CFA franc zone, guaranteed by the French treasury. The meeting in Ouagadougou was attended by Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia and Nigeria.