Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, said he believes a firm hand is still needed.

In the past two months, fighters in Guinea and Liberia have attacked across the border, leaving 600 dead in Guinea and bringing the two countries close to war.

 Camp Boiro, the military barracks and prison where Sekou Toure's opponents were tortured and killed, remains guarded by armed troops who prohibit photographs and refuse to say what function the place now serves. Despite the Conte government's continued repression, its ties with the United States are improving, diplomats said, because Washington recently has begun to see Guinea's stability as crucial to keeping this coastal stretch of West Africa from collapsing into a wider war.

The State Department has longed denounced Conte's autocratic style and human rights record. Its 1999 human rights report said police and paramilitary gendarmes "play an oppressive role in daily lives of citizens" and that the "members of the elite presidential guard are accountable too almost no one except the president."

Still, U.S. officials describe relations as good. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright visited Conakry in October 1999 in show of concern for the region's stability. Conte has "made progress in a number of areas," said a U.S. official, who nonetheless acknowledged that "clearly this is not a democracy."

Mohamed Diane, a leader of opposition Rally of the Guinean People, said it was virtually impossible for his party to hold public meetings because they must be approved by the government. The party's top leader, Alpha Conde, was arrested in 1998, the day after presidential elections in which he opposed Conte.

 Conde's imprisonment and the government's refusal to appoint an independent electoral commission has led a coalition of opposition parties to boycott municipal elections scheduled for this month. "The government has been forced to open up the process a little," Diane.

 The great majority of the poorest African nations, however, remain marginalized in terms of still needed.

In the past two months, fighters in Guinea and Liberia have attacked across the border, leaving 600 dead in Guinea and bringing the two countries close to war.

Camp Boiro, the military barracks and prison where Sekou Toure’s opponents were tortured and killed, remains guarded by armed troops who prohibit photographs and refuse to say what function the place now serves.

Despite the Conte government’s continued repression, its ties with the United States are improving, diplomats said, because Washington recently has begun to see Guinea’s stability as crucial to keeping this coastal stretch of West Africa from collapsing into a wider war.

The State Department has longed denounced Conte’s autocratic style and human rights record. Its 1999 human rights report said police and paramilitary gendarmes "play an oppressive role in daily lives of citizens" and that the "members of the elite presidential guard are accountable too almost no one except the president."

Still, U.S. officials describe relations as good. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright visited Conakry in October 1999 in show of concern for the region’s stability. Conte has "made progress in a number of areas," said a U.S. official, who nonetheless acknowledged that "clearly this is not a democracy."

Mohamed Diane, a leader of opposition Rally of the Guinean People, said it was virtually impossible for his party to hold public meetings because they must be approved by the government. The party’s top leader, Alpha Conde, was arrested in 1998, the day after presidential elections in which he opposed Conte.

Conde’s imprisonment and the government’s refusal to appoint an independent electoral commission has led a coalition of opposition parties to boycott municipal elections scheduled for this month. "The government has been forced to open up the process a little," Diane said, but Guinea’s limited steps toward democracy are "for outside consumption."

"There is no sign things are really changing. Conte was a member of Toure’s Central Committee. He has maintained the same structure with a better face."

Africa Attracts More Foreign Direct Investment-- Dakar, Senegal (PANA) The Washington Afro-American 10/27/00

Foreign direct investment flows to Africa rose 25 percent from $8 billion to $10 billion U.S. dollars in 1999, reflecting the faster growth rate being recorded on the continent, the Geneva-based U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says.

However, investments by transitional corporations in Africa only represent a paltry 1.2 percent of global FDI flows and just 5 percent of total FDI flows into developing countries, UNCTA said in its annual global investment report released Tuesday.

The report, "World Investment Report 2000: Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions and Development," says Africa must become a bigger market player if it hopes to attract more FDI and join the global economy.

"The real challenge for the continent lies ahead: integration into the global economy, including integration into the regional or global production networks of transnational corporations."

"Only then will the continent become a more prominent player in the world market and benefit more from FDI," the report says. It says some 70 percent of total1999 FDI flows into Africa were concentrated in just five countries - Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco. Furthermore, investments in natural resources continue to be the main focus of foreign investor interest in most African countries, with significant flows in manufacturing and services.

The great majority of the poorest African nations, however, remain marginalized in terms of the absolute amount of foreign investment they receive. Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, and Zambia rank first among a number of small African countries receiving significant FDIs when measures in terms of gross domestic capital formation.