UPDATE 1-Guinea to bury Conte, junta tries to woo support

(Updates with Conte funeral plans, adds quotes, details)

By Saliou Samb

CONAKRY, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Guinea prepared to bury Lansana Conte on Friday and the military junta which seized power after the president's death appealed for international support to lead the country to elections in two years.

Four days after Conte died in the West African bauxite exporter, leaving a power vacuum which led to a coup by young army officers, the body of the longtime leader was due to be buried on Friday with national honours.

National TV and radio played songs and music in praise of Conte, the diabetic chain-smoking general who had ruled the former French colony with an iron fist since himself seizing power in 1984.

The coup junta led by its appointed president, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, now the country's de facto leader, has promised to stamp out nepotism and graft, hold elections in 2010 and improve living standards. Most Guineans live in poverty, even though the country is the world's top exporter of aluminium ore bauxite.

"Now we need to be supported by the World Bank and by these kinds of institutions, so we can have the financial conditions to carry out this mission," the vice-president of the junta, General Mamadouba Toto Camara, told reporters.

Friday was declared a public holiday to allow people to attend the funeral. Conte's body was to be exhibited at the People's Palace, the national stadium and the main mosque before being taken to his home town for burial.

The sprawling coastal capital Conakry was calm.