By Saliou Samb CONAKRY, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Guinea on Saturday rejected calls for an international investigation into alleged abuses by security forces during protests in which more than 120 people have died, as an African delegation arrived to press for talks. Human rights groups and foreign governments, including the United States and France, have appealed to President Lansana Conte to lift a five-day-old state of emergency and negotiate a political settlement with unions opposed to his 23-year rule. The 53-nation African Union (AU) passed a resolution on Friday condemning what it called the government's excessive use of force and urged an independent inquiry in collaboration with the African Commission of People and Human Rights. Guinea's Justice Minister Alseny Rene Gomez rejected the call, saying the West African state had already opened its own inquiry late last month. Unions have refused to take part in this government-led commission. "We cannot entrust something to the international community that we can do ourselves and that we have already started to do since January," Gomez told Reuters, adding that Guinea might appeal for foreign help in specialist areas like ballistics. 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. The latest bout of violence erupted a week ago when Conte named a close ally as prime minister, which unions said violated a power-sharing deal that ended the strike. A senior humanitarian source, who asked not to be identified said at least a further 30 people had been killed during the last week, with 245 people injured, almost all civilians. ECOWAS TEAM ARRIVES Nigeria's former military ruler General Ibrahim Babagida touched down in Guinea's coastal capital Conkary on Saturday at the head of a delegation from West African regional body ECOWAS. "There is a social movement taking place in Guinea," Babagida told state media, before leaving for a meeting with Conte. "It is my task to come here and understand the situation and try to find a solution." Under Monday's 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. Union leaders were due to meet senior government officials later on Saturday to explore means of defusing the crisis. Leaders of the USTG union federation boycotted prior talks on Thursday, saying their security was not guaranteed. "We are looking at how we can participate in today's meeting," USTG negotiator Ousmane Souare told Reuters. Security analysts have expressed fears the ongoing unrest in Guinea, particularly in its isolated eastern border area with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, could destabilise a region slowly emerging from a decade of civil wars. The former French colony was in the spotlight this week at a Franco-African summit held in the southern French beach resort of Cannes, with President Jacques Chirac appealing on Friday for a democratic solution to the crisis.
