KEY POINTS:
CONAKRY - Guinea relaxed a curfew today as protests against President Lansana Conte's 23-year rule subsided.
The reclusive Conte declared a state of emergency, including the curfew, six days ago to counter a wave of violent demonstrations and a general strike in the West African country, the world's
top bauxite exporter.
Opposition leaders and rights groups say hundreds of people have been detained.
"Taking account of the discipline observed ... I have decided to reduce the curfew to 6pm to 6am starting from Monday, February 19," Army Chief of Staff Kerfala Camara said on state television, announcing a six-hour reduction.
More than 120 people have been killed in protests since the start of the year, almost all of them civilians. Human rights groups accuse security forces of firing on unarmed crowds, beating protesters, looting and raping civilians.
"We have counted 278 arrests since the start of martial law," said Mohamed Diane, secretary general of the opposition Assembly of the People of Guinea.
Thierno Maadjou Sow, president of Guinea's Human Rights League, said his organisation had been informed of hundreds of arrests, but was still compiling its own figures. It was also investigating reports of the deaths of 22 prisoners in Nzerekore, in southeastern Guinea.
While an uneasy calm has returned to much of the former French colony, foreign governments including the United States and France have called for political dialogue.
Pope Benedict appealed for "respect for human and civil rights" in Guinea and a return to negotiations.
Union officials, who pulled out of talks with the government on Saturday saying they would not negotiate until martial law was lifted, met on Sunday with religious leaders who helped broker a deal to end an 18-day general strike last month.
"It was an informal meeting with the aim of restarting talks with the authorities," union negotiator Ousmane Souare said. "We restated our pre-conditions concerning the state of emergency."
The 53-nation African Union has called for an independent inquiry into suspected rights abuses by security forces.
Guinean Justice Minister Alseny Rene Gomez rejected the call, saying the state had launched its own inquiry last month. The unions have refused to take part.
The protests erupted when Conte named a close ally as prime minister. Unions said the appointment violated a power-sharing deal struck to end last month's strike.
Many Guineans have applauded the measures taken by the military to restore order after the demonstrations gave way to looting and banditry.
Diplomats have expressed concern further protests could unsettle a volatile region slowly recovering from a decade of civil wars. Witnesses said the UN refuge agency had set up camps on Sunday on the Sierra Leone border to deal with any possible refugees fleeing Guinea.
Bauxite production and deliveries from the national bauxite company CBG, the world's largest exporter, have resumed after martial law was lifted in the area around its mine on Friday. CBG is part-controlled by US firm Alcoa and Canada's Alcan.
- REUTERS