History appears to be repeating itself in Guinea after the death of one of Africa's longest-running authoritarian rulers, Lansana Conte.

Conte came to power in a military coup in 1984 after the death of his predecessor. The army suspended the constitution and parliament, and Conte established a committee for national recovery.

The military looks to be following the same blueprint after Conte's death ? thought to be from diabetes ? as it sets up another committee, supposedly to save the country. Guineans can only hope that whoever it chooses to lead them does better than Conte. The chain-smoking president leaves behind one of Africa's least democratic nations, despite regular elections, and one of its most dishonest. In 2006, Transparency International judged Guinea the most corrupt country in the world alongside Haiti.

Conte was born around 1934 ? he never knew the exact date ? in Dubreka and was educated at an Islamic school before attending French military schools in Ivory Coast and Senegal.

He joined the French army in 1955 and was sent to Algeria to take part in Paris's failed attempt to suppress the independence movement.

At Guinea's independence three years later, he was inducted into its army as a sergeant and rose to become an officer. In 1971 he was promoted to captain by the president, Ahmed Sekou Toure, for his role in resisting an attempted invasion by Guinean exiles from neighbouring Portuguese Guinea, now called Guinea-Bissau. The tables were turned when he was appointed to head Guinea's support for pro-independence rebels in Portuguese Guinea.

Conte was elected to the national assembly in 1980.

When Toure, who led Guinea from independence, died in March 1984, the prime minister, Louis Lansana Beavogui, served as president for just a month before Conte toppled him in a military coup, suspended the constitution and banned political activity. The military administration proclaimed Conte president.

Within a year, Conte was having to fight off attempts to remove him from power ? the first led by former prime minister Diarra Traore, who was executed along with about 100 rebellious soldiers.

Conte won favour in the west by turning away from his predecessor's leftwing policies with IMF-backed cuts in government spending and a currency devaluation. He planted his political flag firmly in the western camp.

Along with many African leaders under pressure from their backers in Europe and America, Conte began a transition to multiparty rule in the early 90s with the collapse of communism. But he never relinquished real power.

In 1993 he won the first multiparty presidential election since independence with just over half the vote amid widespread allegations of fraud. He won again five years later, but again the poll was heavily criticised by the opposition and election observers.

Conte won a third presidential term five years ago with 95% of the vote after all but one opposition candidate boycotted the ballot as rigged.

He survived an assassination attempt in January 2005 as he grew more unpopular. Food riots two years ago rocked Guinea, and last year he faced a general strike against his rule. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in protests brutally suppressed by the presidential guard, police and army. The crackdown killed at least 90 people.

The protest forced Conte to appoint a prime minister as head of government. He chose his own minister for presidential affairs, Eugene Camara. The opposition cried foul and more protests followed.

Conte again bowed to the pressure and chose Lansana Kouyate as prime minister from a list of names drawn up by the unions and civil society. Conte declined to attend his swearing-in and gradually undermined the prime minister until Kouyate was dismissed this year and replaced with Souare, a close ally of the president.

Last year, Guinea's president told the French press he was still firmly in charge. "I'm the boss; others are my subordinates," he said.

In the past three years, he repeatedly left the country for medical treatment in Morocco and Switzerland. Each time, opponents wrongly predicted he would not return.

But his own prediction proved wrong ? he had said he would rule until his presidential term expired, in 2010.