An outbreak of cholera in Guinea has killed 82 people since February and is showing no signs of letting up, the country's health ministry said Saturday.

"A week ago we counted 60 dead and 2,054 cases ... this week we have recorded 82 dead," Dr. Sakoba Keita of the ministry's infectious diseases department told a press conference, adding that the situation was "alarming".

Fifty people traveling to a weekly market were killed and 27 others injured when the lorry they were traveling in crashed in eastern Guinea on Saturday, a government statement said.

"It was a lorry... (carrying passengers) that was the cause of this serious accident which has plunged numerous families into mourning," Territorial Administration Minister Alhassane Conde was quoted as saying in the statement which confirmed the death toll.

Three popular African singers have released a CD in collaboration with Vatican Radio to spread the message of the African Synod and mark the pope's upcoming trip to Benin, the Vatican said Monday.

The most famous is Congolese rumba musician Papa Wemba -- who says he underwent a spiritual conversion while serving time in 2003 for smuggling Congolese nationals into France by pretending they were part of his road crew.

Guinea's newly-installed president survived a rocket attack on his residence that left one dead Tuesday, bringing into sharp focus the challenges he faces to stabilize the country.

Alpha Conde addressed the nation on state television hours later in a bid to appease fears that the coup-prone west African country was slipping back into violence barely half a year after he came to power.