(Adds Babangida paragraphs 5-6) By Saliou Samb CONAKRY, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Guinea's unions on Saturday called off talks with the government aimed at ending protests in which more than 120 people have died, saying they would not negotiate until President Lansana Conte lifted martial law. Union leaders had been due to meet senior government officials amid growing international calls for the veteran Conte to end his five-day-old state of emergency and negotiate a political settlement with unions opposed to his 23-year rule. "There are still killings and lootings in the neighbourhoods, there is still martial law and we cannot negotiate under these circumstances," union negotiator Boubacar Biro Barry told Reuters. Amid concern that growing protests could shatter a fragile calm in a volatile region, Nigeria's former military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida led a delegation from the West African regional body ECOWAS to the coastal capital Conakry on Saturday. "We wouldn't like to see Guinea get into a very chaotic situation. We have had previous experiences in Liberia and Sierra Leone," Babangida told journalists after meeting Conte, citing brutal decade-long civil wars in those nations. "Guinea is a very important country within the sub-region. The leadership of ECOWAS wouldn't like to see that happen," said the Nigerian, who said he was leading an "exploratory mission" and did not meet union representatives. More than 90 people, almost all civilians, were killed in an 18-day general strike last month which halted the key bauxite industry in the world's largest exporter and shook the grip on power of the ailing Conte, a reclusive army general in his 70s. REJECTS INQUIRY A fresh bout of violence erupted a week ago when Conte named a close ally as prime minister, and unions said the appointment violated the power-sharing deal that ended the strike. A senior humanitarian source, who asked not to be identified, said at least 30 people had been killed and 245 injured during the past week, almost all civilians. The 53-nation African Union (AU) passed a resolution on Friday condemning the government for excessive use of force and called for an independent inquiry in collaboration with the African Commission of People and Human Rights. Guinean Justice Minister Alseny Rene Gomez rejected the call, saying the West African state had already opened its own inquiry. The unions have refused to take part. Gomez told Reuters that Guinea, though needing no outside assistance with its inquiry, might appeal for foreign help in specialist areas like ballistics. Under Monday's draconian martial law, Guinea's military has orders to arrest anyone threatening state security, to impose an 18-hour curfew and to shoot anyone resisting its authority. The former French colony was in the spotlight this week at a Franco-African summit in the resort of Cannes, where President Jacques Chirac appealed for a democratic solution to the crisis. Bauxite production and shipments from the national mining firm CBG, controlled by the U.S. aluminium giant Alcoa and Canada's Alcan, resumed on Friday after the government lifted martial law restrictions around its Sangaredi mine. (Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa)
