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The Associated Press
Friday, July 27, 2001; 11:37 AM
Moscow — Guinean President Lansana Conte was taken to a Moscow hospital with heart trouble Friday, hours after meeting with President Vladimir Putin, state-run television reported.
A meeting between the Guinean president and the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament was later canceled because Conte was suffering from an unspecified health problem, the parliamentary press service said.
There was no other immediate confirmation of the report on RTR television, which did not provide details about Conte's ailment. Conte is in his late 50s.
Earlier Friday, Russia and Guinea signed an agreement on military-technical cooperation.
The Western African nation was long a haven from the violence that has convulsed its neighbors, and became host to hundreds of thousands of refugees. But fighting broke out late last year in the dense tropical forests along Guinea's southern borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia.
"We are aware of the difficulties faced by you, Mr. President, and your colleagues," Putin said at the start of the two leaders' talks in the Kremlin. He reassured Conte that Moscow had not forgotten the good relations between Guinea and the Soviet Union.
"I must say that you probably know that our sub-region is suffering more than a little since the beginning of the war between Sierra Leone and Liberia," Conte replied.
The text of the agreement, signed by Conte and the chairman of Russia's committee on military-technical cooperation, Mikhail Dmitriyev, was not released. Putin and Conte did not discuss any details before reporters were ushered out of the hall where the talks took place.
The two presidents also signed a bilateral agreement on friendship and partnership, and other officials signed Russian-Guinean agreements on cooperation in education and between the countries' national archives.
In addition to military-technical cooperation, Guinea and Russia are cooperating in bauxite mining and processing, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. A recent deal gives metals giant Russian Aluminum control over a Guinean state-owned bauxite company for 25 years. Bauxite ore is used in aluminum production.
The Associated Press
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