Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi (Left) and Guinea's President Lansana Conte talk during a past African Union summit in Accra, Ghana. Photo/REUTERS
What you need to know:
Conté was a diabetic, chain-smoking general.
He ruled Guinea or nearly a quarter of a century.
National Assembly President Aboubacar Sompare asks Supreme Court to name him president in line with the constitution.
Sompare declares 40 days of national mourning.
Guinea's President Lansana Conté has died after an illness, the government said on Tuesday, leaving a potential power vacuum in the West African bauxite exporter he had ruled for nearly a quarter of a century.
When government leaders gathered to announce Conté's death on state television in the early hours of Tuesday, military commander Diarra Camara ordered troops to protect strategic locations and the borders of the former French colony.
