Guinean writer Tierno Monenembo will boycott his country's upcoming constitutional referendum, calling the vote a "farce". Unwaveringly critical of the authoritarian junta in power, he said he is ready to "die for his ideas".

In the lush garden of a Conakry bar he frequents, Monenembo -- one of Africa's most highly regarded Francophone writers -- spoke to AFP about a life enmeshed in politics.

Monenembo's columns in Guinean satirical newspaper Le Lynx and French weekly Le Point offer astute observations about African political life and regularly denounce corruption across the continent.

The passage of time has done nothing to dull the 78-year-old writer's knack for speaking truth to power.

After a short depressive episode following the theft of a manuscript from his home in the suburbs

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