By Saliou Samb
CONAKRY, May 15 (Reuters) - Guinea will take legal actionagainst watchdog group Global Witness over a report that saidSable Mining Africa Ltd financed President AlphaConde's election campaign in 2010, the president said on Sunday.
The legal action would aim to force Global Witness toprovide proof to back up its claims, said Conde who denied theallegations.
The watchdog group also said in its report published lastweek that Sable Mining, which is registered in the BritishVirgin Islands, paid money to Conde's son, Alpha Mohammed Conde,for bribes to secure the rights to its Mount Nimba iron oreconcession.
"No member of my family is involved in anything corrupt,"Conde told a news conference on his return from a foreign tripon state business. He gave no further details of thecontemplated legal action.
"Since I have been in power we have made transparency in themining sector a priority. It's for this reason that we haveannulled 800 (mining) permits that were not active and which theholders were using for speculation," he said.
Global Witness specializes in investigating illegality andcorruption in the natural resources sector. It based its reporton what it said were leaked company documents.
The report, which Reuters was unable to verifyindependently, did not specify the nature of those documents.
Calls to the organization on Sunday seeking comment were notanswered. An email on Sunday to Sable Mining Africa's publicrelations agency requesting comment was not answered.
Conde was elected in 2010 after decades of dictatorship andauthoritarian rule. His election was considered democratic andhe was re-elected last year to a further five-year term.
The West African state has significant mineral resources, inparticular iron ore, and the government carried out a review ofmining permits between 2012 and 2015 to ensure that deals hadbeen negotiated legally and transparently.
Conde said Guinea will double its bauxite production betweennow and 2018 and improve its energy production in the mediumterm to help the aluminium industry.
"We aim to export more than 50 million tonnes of bauxitewithin the next two years," he told the news conference. (Additional reporting and writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg;Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
