By Saliou Samb CONAKRY, June 23 (Reuters) - Guinean President Lansana Conte has named a new team of regional governors in the world's top bauxite exporter, four months after many of their predecessors were chased from their offices during nationwide unrest. Several old allies of the veteran president were among the eight regional governors and 33 prefects named in a presidential decree late on Friday, a list agreed with the prime minister but which maintains Conte's influence in much of the country. Guinea had been without regional governors since strikes and protests against the president's rule swept the former French colony at the start of the year, killing more than 120 people, most of them shot dead by security forces. The paralysing strikes against Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s, were brought to an end in February when he agreed to name career diplomat Lansana Kouyate as prime minister, a consensus figure agreed with unions and the opposition. Local government offices in at least 20 of the West African country's 33 prefectures were attacked during the protests, sending officials fleeing to safety in the capital, Conakry. The president's former chief of protocol, Malick Sankon, was handed the governorship of Conakry in Friday's decree. Ibrahima Diabate and Ibrahima Bangoura, both political advisors at the Interior Ministry under Conte's previous administration, were made governors of the northern region of Labe and the central region of Faranah respectively. Rights groups have condemned the brutality with which the security forces, acting on behalf of Conte's old government, put down the protests in January and February. Most of the fatalities occurred as riot police and soldiers armed with tear gas grenades and assault rifles opened fire in suburbs around Conakry and other towns to stop stone-throwing protesters attacking administrative buildings.
