Siradiou Diallo

Siradiou Diallo
Personal details
Born	August 25, 1936 Labé, Guinea
Died	14 March 2004(2004-03-14) (aged 67) Paris, France
Political party	Union for Progress and Renewal

Siradiou Diallo (August 25, 1936 in Labé – March 14, 2004 in Paris), a Fulani,^[1] was a Guinean journalist and politician of the opposition party Union for Progress and Renewal.^[2] He was a candidate during the 1993 Guinean presidential election where he received 11.86% of the vote. He also stood for presidency in the 1998 Guinean presidential election and the 2003 Guinean presidential election.

Early years

Diallo was from Labé, located in Fouta Djallon, a highland region in the centre of the country. His father, Elhadj Ibrahima Gassama Diallo, was a government official, before and after the country's independence. His mother was Thierno Hadiatou Bah, was the eldest daughter of the reigning family of Dalaba. Diallo was the eldest son of a family that included 21 siblings. His paternal grandparents was Thierno Cellou Diallo, the leader of Pilimini (a village in Koubia Prefecture) and Bah Assiatou Thierno, eldest daughter of the venerable Thierno Aliou Bhoubha N'diyan.^[3]

Diallo received his initial education at Koranic Kottyou Timbi Touni in

In the 1998 Guinean presidential election, Diallo's Union pour la Nouvelle Republique (UNR) joined forces with Mamadou Bah and Union pour le Progrès et le Renouveau (UPR) ("Union for Progress and Reform"). Diallo became the leader of the UPR, a Fulani supported party^[8] and worked towards engagement with the electoral process.^[7] The joint bid in Fulbe by the politicians, however, intensified ethnic conflict. At the same time, this alienated the 1998 planned expulsion of over a hundred thousand people, most of whom were Fulani, from a district of Conakry, the Fulbe from the Conté regime. There were violent protests and clashes between the population, opposition and police.

In the parliamentary elections in 2002, Diallo's UPR was the only opposition party to participate,^[9] and it won 20 of the 114 parliamentary seats. He stood again for presidency in the 2003 Guinean presidential election, participating in a national election tour. Among other issues, he opposed the charge finding that the UPR had conducted a secret agreement with the government. The elections, however, were boycotted by all major opposition parties, including the UPR, due to lack of fairness.

Diallo denounced political fatalism.^[10] He died on March 14, 2004, in Paris at the age of 68 years from a cardiac arrest.

References