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| - A Guinean opposition figure surrendered to the police on Friday, joining four others who were detained this week for their alleged role in post-election violence, one of their lawyers said. Cellou Balde, a former lawmaker from the opposition UFDG party, turned himself in after police placed him on a wanted notice. His fellow party members Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, Abdoulaye Bah surrendered on Thursday, lawyer Salifou Beavogui said, with Etienne Soropogui, who is from a minor opposition party. Police also arrested UFDG vice president Ibrahima Cherif Bah on Wednesday as part of a sweep targeting mainly opposition politicians and activists. All five opposition figures now in custody were on the police wanted list, issued after deadly clashes between opposition supporters and security forces following the October 18 presidential election. President Alpha Conde, 82, won a controversial third presidential term after he topped the poll with 59.5 percent of the votes, according to official results released on Saturday. But violence broke out after the election when UFDG leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, 68, proclaimed himself victorious and alleged voter fraud. The government said at least 21 people died in subsequent clashes. The UFDG party put the death toll at 46. While observers from other African countries have backed the official election results, France, the European Union and the United States have cast doubt. In a statement on Tuesday, a public prosecutor in the capital Conakry said police were actively searching for six people, including Balde, accused of having made "threats likely to disturb public security and order". Diallo, criticising the sweep operation, has accused Conde of attempting to "decapitate" his party. Political tension in Guinea centres on Conde's third term, against which there have been rolling protests since October 2019. The president pushed through a new constitution in March which he argued would modernise the country. But it also allowed him to bypass the two-term limit for presidents. A former opposition leader, Conde became Guinea's first democratically-elected president in 2010 and won re-election in 2015, but critics accuse him of veering towards authoritarianism. bm-lal/blb/eml/pvh
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