Guinea

Country Overview

The Republic of Guinea lies on the West African coast, bounded on the north by Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali; on the east by the Côte d'Ivoire; on the south by Sierra Leone and Liberia; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Modern Guinea is partial heir to the West African empires of the medieval Mali and Shonghai empires. Today, with a population of approximately 9 million, the major ethnic groups are the Peuhl (Foula or Foulani), Malinke (Mandingo), Soussous (Susu) and Toma. 85% of the population is Muslim, 8% Christian and 7% follow indigenous beliefs.

The Portuguese arrived in Guinea around the 15th century, when Diego d'Azambuja visited the coast. By the 17th century, French, British, and Portuguese traders were competing for slaves and by the 19th century for palm oil, peanuts, and other products. In 1891, Guinea was constituted as a French colony separate from Senegal, of which it had hitherto been a part. Its name was changed to French Guinea in 1893 and, two years later, it became part of French West Africa.

Guinean resistance to French rule was not quelled until the defeat in 1898 of Samoury Touré, ruler of the Malinke state, who had led fierce armed resistance against the French. However, sporadic revolts continued into the 20th century. In 1946, Guinea became a member territory of the French Union with its own representatives in the French National Assembly. France turned Guinea into one of its most lucrative colonies, establishing a head tax to force Guineans to farm peanuts, fruit and coffee, and to harvest rubber, an important resource for France up until the 1920s, when French Indo-China replaced Guinea as their main source. However, little economic development occurred within the country under the colonial regime until just before World War II, when exploitation of Guinea's rich bauxite deposits began.

Sekou Touré

In 1958, Guinea became the first African nation to become independent. A former labour leader and mayor of the capital, Conakry, Sekou Touré, head of the Partie Democratique de Guinee - Rassemblement Democratique African (PDG-RDA), became President. Under Touré's leadership, the nation voted overwhelmingly to reject the Constitution of the Fifth Republic under which French colonies became self-governing within the French community. France responded by cutting off aid and support and recalling technical workers. Touré established a one-party state, leading to deterioration in the economy and a reported two million Guineans fled abroad. By 1979, strong opposition to Toure's rigid policies forced him to accept a return to mixed economy and legalize private enterprise. In March 1984, he died while undergoing surgery in the USA.

Lansana Conté

A bloodless military coup brought Colonel Lansana Conté, head of the Military Committee of National Recovery (CMRN), to power. The PDG-RDA and the legislature were dissolved and the constitution suspended, political prisoners released, a relaxation of press restrictions was announced and the CMRN declared the protection of human rights as one of its primary objectives. The judicial system was reorganised and the administration decentralised. The CMRN also announced its intention to liberalize the economy, promote private enterprise, and encourage foreign investment in order to develop the country's rich natural resources. In May 1984, the second republic of Guinea was proclaimed. By mid 1984, an estimated 200,000 Guinean exiles had returned to the country. In October 1985, Conté began to implement radical economic reforms demanded by the World Bank and the IMF. French funds provided in 1989 for the construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Konkouré River. In December of that year, following a referendum on a new constitution, civilian rule was to be established with an executive and legislature directly elected within a two-party system. Following antigovernment general strikes and mass protests in 1991, Conté announced that a law authorizing registration of an unlimited number of political parties would go into effect in April 1992. In February 1992, most military officers and all who had returned from exile after the 1984 coup were removed from the Council of Ministers.

In 1993, Conté won the presidency in the country's first multiparty presidential election, which was boycotted by some opposition groups and marred by accusations of fraud, as well as by scores of killings in the election campaign. The new National Assembly held its first session in October 1995. In mid-1996, in response to the coup attempt and a faltering economy, Conté appointed a new government. He was re-elected in 1998, and named Lamine Sidime as his prime minister, though the vote was denounced by opposition groups as rigged. Following his re-election and the improvement of economic conditions through 1999, Conté reversed direction, making wholesale and regressive changes to his cabinet.

In 2000--2001, foreign rebels raided Guinean villages along the borders, and the Guinean army counterattacked in retaliation. The attacks forced the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to relocate many of the 200,000 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees residing in Guinea. As a result of the attacks, legislative elections scheduled for 2000 were postponed. The constitution was amended in 2001 to permit the president to run for a third term; at the same time, the presidential term was extended from five to seven years. On December 21, 2003, the presidential elections proceeded as scheduled and, in the absence of any significant opposition, Conté was re-elected.

Economy

The country possesses over 30% of the world's bauxite reserves and is the world's second-largest bauxite producer. Iron ore, gold, and diamonds are also mined. Mineral exports accounted for about 75% of exports in the mid-1990s. Alumina, made from bauxite, is also a leading export; other exports include fish and a variety of agricultural products. Guinea produces rice, coffee, pineapples, cassava, bananas, palm kernels and citrus fruits. Livestock-raising is important in the highlands. Guinea's chief trading partners are the United States, France, Belgium and Côte d'Ivoire. Guinea has some light industry, but inadequate transportation facilities have hampered industrialization. Rail lines connect some large cities, and there are airports at Conakry and Kankan. Expansion of the mineral industry has led to improvement of the road network. On August 26th 2004, the World Bank approved US$30 billion for projects and a Japanese-backed Company signed a deal to build a $2 Billion Alumina Plant. Growth is expected to strengthen in 2005.

2003 GNP 3.08 billion dollars

GNP per capita 405 dollars

Minerals

With political stability, a realistic mining policy and favourable policies of liberalisation toward foreign investment and the repatriation of funds, Guinea possesses a mineral wealth which makes it potentially one of the strongest economies in Africa. More than one-third of the known world reserves of high-grade bauxite ore, as well as sizeable deposits of iron ore, exist in Guinea. Other mineral resources include diamonds, gold, uranium, copper and manganese. In 2005, a drilling programme funded by Canadian joint venture partner, Navasota, got under way on MANO'S Missamana and Gueliban gold licences. The company also secured three licences over the Bouro diamondiferous kimberlite dykes, where previous work by De Beers had established very high grades of several hundred carats per hundred tonnes.