CONAKRY, Sept 30, 2008 (AFP) - Fifty years after Guinea broke free from colonial ruler France declaring it would rather be poor and free than rich and enslaved the West African nation languishes at the bottom of the UN development index despite vast mineral wealth.

On Thursday Guinea will celebrate its 50 years of independence with a program of festivities that will kick off with a Wednesday evening address to the nation of Guinea's Lansana Conte.

The 74-year-old general has had an iron-fisted grip on power since leading a bloodless coup in 1984.

'We prefer poverty in freedom to riches in slavery,' Guinea's nationalist leader Sekou Toure famously told French General De Gaulle in 1958 when he asked for immediate independence, rejecting De Gaulle's proposal to become part of a Franco-African union.

Half a century later the West African country, once the richest country in France's west African colonial region, is bogged down by economic and political stagnation.

While the country has a vast mineral wealth with bauxite, iron, gold and uranium deposits, most of its nine million inhabitants live on less than a dollar a day.

The country is at the bottom of the United Nation's human development index on the 160th spot of a total of 177.

Cholera is endemic in the bigger cities and only half of the population has access to clean drinking water. Some 70 percent of Guineans are illiterate and life expectancy is only 54 years.

'Where we went wrong is how we managed independence. What did we do with these 50 years of independence?' Guinean historian and writer Djibril Tamsir Niane told AFP.

'We celebrate 50 years of independence in the dark (without electricity) and we keep telling ourselves we are proud,' he said.

'We said 'no' (to France) in 1958 and we got our independence. The others have said 'yes' and became independent with less unfortunate consequences.'

On a political level the country never experienced democratic elections and has been led since 1958 first by Sekou Toure, a progressive leader turned dictator and then by Conte, the army general who seized power in 1984 and relies heavily on the security forces to control the population.

In his 26 years in power Toure, who was once known as the father of independence, is thought to be responsible for the death or disappearance of 50,000 people.

Several hundred thousand Guineans chose exile during his reign to escape repression.

His successor Conte is also harshly criticised by human rights organisations.

The International Crisis Group think tank said earlier this year that Guinea's biggest problem is 'President Conte and his clan'.

'Ailing president Lansana Conte's poor governance and his regime's brutality have driven the country to a near-anarchy situation following protests against his rule,' the think tank wrote.

Earlier this year Conte has faced both a mutiny by soldiers and police protests which left more than six people dead and dozens wounded, according to official figures.

Observers have warned that the ongoing instability and economic malaise coupled with an ailing president and no clear successor could lead to widespread violence which could have a destabilizing effect on the whole West African region.

Tens of thousands of people from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast have fled to Guinea to escape the internal conflict in their homeland.