The land that is now Guinea belonged to a series of
African empires until France colonized it in the 1890s, and made it part
of French West Africa. Guinea declared its independence from France
on 2 October 1958. From independence
until the presidential election of
2010, Guinea was governed by a number of autocratic rulers,
which has contributed to making Guinea one of the poorest countries in the
world. In a coup d'état several hours following Touré's death, Lansana Conté became
the President. The constitution and parliament were suspended and a committee
for national recovery was established. Conté remained in power until his death
on 23 December 2008. In several hours
following his death, Moussa Dadis Camara seized control of Guinea as the head
of a junta. On
28 September 2009, the junta ordered its soldiers to attack people who had
gathered to protest any attempt by Camara to become President. The soldiers went on a rampage of rape,
mutilation, and murder. On 3 December
2009, an aide shot Camara during a dispute about the rampage of September 2009.
Camara went to Morocco for medical care.
Vice-President (and defense minister) Sékouba Konaté flew back from Lebanon to
run the country in Camara's absence. On
12 January 2010 Camara was flown from Morocco to Burkina Faso. After meeting in Ouagadougou on
13 and 14 January, Camara, Konaté and Blaise
Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso, produced a formal statement of
twelve principles promising a return of Guinea to civilian rule within six
months. It was agreed that the military would not contest the forthcoming
elections, and Camara would continue his convalescence outside Guinea.
On 21 January 2010 the military junta appointed Jean-Marie
Doré as Prime Minister of a six-month transition government,
leading up to elections. The
presidential election was set to take place on 27 June and 18 July 2010, it was
held as being the first free and fair election since independence in 1958. The
first round took place normally on 27 June 2010 with ex Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo and his
rival Alpha Condé emerging as the two runners-up
for the second round. However, due to
allegations of electoral fraud, the second round of the election was postponed
until 19 September 2010. A delay until
10 October was announced by the electoral commission (CENI), subject to
approval by Sékouba Konaté.
Yet another delay until 24 October was announced in early October. Elections were finally held on 7 November.
Voter turnout was high, and the elections went relatively smoothly.
16 November 2010, Alpha Condé,
the leader of the opposition party Rally of the Guinean People (RGP),
was officially declared the winner of a 7 November run-off in Guinea's
presidential election. He had promised to reform the security sector and review
mining contracts if elected. On the
night of 18 July 2011, President Condé's residence was attacked in an attempted
coup. The attack included a fierce firefight and rocket propelled grenades. The
president was unharmed. Sixteen people
have been charged with the attempted assassination. Most of those indicted are
close associates of Konaté. The National Assembly of Guinea, the country's
legislative body, has not met since 2008 when it was dissolved after the
military coup in December. Elections have been
postponed many times since 2007 and, most recently, were scheduled for 8 July
2012. In April 2012, President Condé postponed the elections indefinitely,
citing the need to ensure that they were "transparent and
democratic". In February 2013, a
plane carrying the head of the Guinean armed forces, General Kelefa Diallo, and
nine other military officials, crashed on its way to the Liberian
capital, Monrovia.
In late February 2013, political violence erupted in Guinea after
protesters took to the streets to voice their concerns over the transparency of
the upcoming May 2013 elections. The demonstrations were fueled by the
opposition coalition’s decision to step down from the electoral process in
protest at the lack of transparency in the preparations for elections. Nine people were killed during the protests,
while around 220 were injured, and many of the deaths and injuries were caused
by security forces using live fire on protesters. The political violence also led to
inter-ethnic clashes between the Peul and Malinke people,
the latter forming the base of support for President Condé, with the former
consisting mainly of the opposition. On
March 26, 2013 the opposition party backed out of the negotiation with the
government over the upcoming May 12 election. The opposition claimed that the
government has not respected them, and have not kept any promises they agreed
to. This is expected to lead to more protests and fighting in the streets of
Guinea.
At 245,857 km2, Guinea is roughly the size of the United
Kingdom and slightly smaller than the US state of Oregon. There
are 320 km of coastline and a total land border of 3,400 km. Its
neighbours are Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Guinea-Bissau,
Liberia, Mali,
Senegal and Sierra Leone.
The highest point in Guinea is Mount Nimba at
1,752 m. Although the Guinean and Ivorian sides of the Nimba Massif are
a UNESCO Strict Nature Reserve, the portion of the
so-called Guinean Backbone continues
into Liberia,
where it has been mined for decades; the damage is quite evident in the Nzérékoré.
Guinea has abundant natural resources including 25
percent or more of the world's known bauxite reserves.
Guinea also has diamonds, gold, and other metals. The country has great
potential for hydroelectric power. Bauxite and alumina are
currently the only major exports. Other industries include processing plants
for beer, juices, soft drinks and tobacco. Agriculture employs 80 percent of
the nation's labor force. Under French rule, and at the beginning of
independence, Guinea was a major exporter of bananas, pineapples,
coffee, peanuts, and palm oil.
Guinea possesses over 25 billion tonnes (metric tons)
of bauxite – and perhaps up to one-half of the world's reserves. In addition,
Guinea's mineral wealth includes more than 4-billion tonnes of high-grade iron
ore, significant diamond and gold deposits, and undetermined quantities
of uranium.
Guinea has considerable potential for growth in agricultural and fishing
sectors. Soil, water, and climatic conditions provide opportunities for
large-scale irrigated farming and agro industry. Possibilities for investment
and commercial activities exist in all these areas, but Guinea's poorly
developed infrastructure and rampant corruption continue to present obstacles
to large-scale investment projects. Joint
venture bauxite mining and alumina operations in northwest Guinea historically
provide about 80% of Guinea's foreign exchange. Bauxite is refined into
alumina, which is later smelted into aluminium. The Compagnie des
Bauxites de Guinea (CBG), which exports about 14 million tonnes
of high-grade bauxite annually, is the main player in the bauxite industry. CBG
is a joint venture, 49% owned by the Guinean Government and 51% by an
international consortium.
Diamonds and gold also are mined and exported on a large
scale. AREDOR, a joint diamond-mining venture between the Guinean Government
(50%) and an Australian, British, and Swiss consortium,
began production in 1984 and mined diamonds that are 90% gem quality.
Production stopped from 1993 until 1996, when First City Mining, of Canada,
purchased the international portion of the consortium. The bulk of diamonds are
mined artisanally. The largest gold mining operation in Guinea is a joint
venture between the government and Ashanti Goldfields of Ghana.
Guinea has large reserves of the steel-making raw
material, iron ore. Rio Tinto is the majority owner of the $6 billion Simandou
iron ore project, which the firm says is the world's best unexploited resource. Rio Tinto has signed a binding agreement
with Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. to
establish the joint venture for the Simandou iron ore project. This project is
said to be of the same magnitude as the Pilbara in
Western Australia. In the 1960s, Thomas
Price, then vice president of US-based steel company Kaiser Steel, said,
"I think this [the Pilbara] is one of the most massive ore bodies in the
world."
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