By Saliou Samb CONAKRY, April 28 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate said on Saturday Guinea was not ready for parliamentary polls due in June, especially with some provincial governors afraid to set foot in their areas after a bloody strike this year. Kouyate, appointed in February under a deal to end a strike against ageing President Lansana Conte in which over 120 people were killed, told reporters he would consult political parties. "We are nearly in May already. If we organise elections under these conditions, it will be a rushed job. But it is not for me (alone) to decide on a postponement," Kouyate said. Under the law of the West African country, the world's top bauxite exporter, the interior ministry organises elections. Political parties recently agreed an independent electoral commission should be set up for the purpose, but the move still has to be approved by a national assembly dominated by the old guard loyal to Conte, who first seized power in a 1984 coup. "Territorial administration doesn't exist at the moment in the interior. Because of people's anger during the strike, many prefects and sub-prefects are currently in Conakry. Some are even persona non grata in the areas they govern," Kouyate said. Kouyate returned this week from a tour of Europe to drum up diplomatic and financial support to tackle a formidable array of problems facing the chaotic and impoverished country. He said the European Union had agreed to pay 7 million euros ($9.5 million) towards the elections, and to unfreeze 40 million euros more in aid for Guinea's urgent needs. MINERS TO PAY MORE Kouyate, a respected diplomat, was appointed prime minister to end weeks of violent general strikes in which more than 120 people died, most of them shot dead by Conte's security forces. Since his nomination Kouyate has frozen ministry spending, named a government of mainly technocrats and announced a review of all mining and other extractive contracts. "The agreements and other things that have been signed in foggy conditions will have to be re-examined," he said. "A commission has been put in place. The companies must agree to pay what we are losing out on. That way we will avoid fundamentally reviewing or even cancelling contracts ... We will find an amicable settlement with those companies who agree." Russia's RUSAL, Canada's Alcan and U.S. Alcoa have bauxite mining interests in Guinea while U.S.-based Hyperdynamics Corp has offshore oil exploration rights. Bauxite is the ore used to make aluminium. Since Kouyate's appointment Guinea's franc currency has almost doubled its black market value against the dollar, which bankers and economists have attributed partly to confidence in Kouyate's government and a shortage of franc bank notes. In his first public comments on the matter, Kouyate said on Saturday a drop in central bank activities was also a factor. "I asked the central bank to stop intervening in the foreign exchange market to buy (foreign) currency," he said. An IMF team is visiting Guinea, where Kouyate's programme has raised hopes for an economic revival in a country wrestling with annual inflation over 30 percent where most people scrape by on under a dollar a day.
