CONAKRY, Guinea (AP):Street protests turned violent in Guinea's capital yesterday, with four people killed, as demonstrators threw rocks and set up burning-tire barricades while criticising the

president for appointing an ally as prime minister.

The four victims were brought to Donka Hospital in Conakry, with their bodies showing signs of bullet wounds, Dr. Ousmane Bah said, adding that it appeared they all had been teenagers.

"There are lots of injured people. We are overwhelmed," Bah said.

President Lansana Conte, who seized power in a 1984 coup, had agreed last month to share power by appointing a new prime minister, a key demand of union leaders who led a 17-day strike calling for Conte's resignation.

violated condition

But according to the agreement, the new prime minister could not be a current member of Conte's government - a condition he violated by appointing Cabinet member Eugene Camara.

"Wake up! Get out of your houses! The president has insulted us!" protesters chanted in the capital's neighbourhood of Madina.

"Conte doesn't give a care about us," said Mamadou Diallo, a local mechanic. "He named one of his own people."

Yesterday, union leaders were expected to meet to discuss whether to call a new strike on Monday. They could not immediately be reached for comment.

A two-week national strike last month brought the West African nation to an economic standstill and quickly spiraled into violent street protests, leaving at least 59 dead in clashes with security forces.

Camara, appointed Friday as prime minister, has been a minister in Conte's Cabinet since 1997, serving most recently as minister for presidential affairs.

Guinea had been without a premier since April, when Conte fired Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo.

Although Guinea's population of 10 million is impoverished, the country is home to half the world's reserves of bauxite, a material used to produce aluminum.