Plan to halt Guinea referendum

Opposition leaders in Guinea say they will use all means to prevent a referendum designed to change the country's constitution to enable President Lansana Conte to run for a third term.

Guinea's constitution allows for only two presidential terms, which would force the president to stand down in 2003.

But earlier this month, he said he wanted to stand again, and a date for a referendum on the issue was fixed for 11 November.

The veteran opposition leader, Mamadou Ba - representing the Movement Against the Referendum and for Democratic Change - accused the president of attempting a constitutional coup d'etat.

He told a news conference in Conakry that this was the last chance for the opposition to stop a dictatorship imposing a president for life on the people.

President Conte seized power in a military coup in 1984, then became a civilian and won presidential elections in 1993 and 1998.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service