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| Guinea | Plants and Animal | Back to Top |
The vegetation of Guinea varies considerably. Dense mangrove forests abound along the coast and the riverbanks. The Fouta Djallon, which has been subject to extensive burning, is covered with sedge. The higher plateau areas have dense forests. Upper Guinea is characterized by savanna woodland. Trees include the shea and the tamarind. The Guinea highlands are characterized by dense rain forests. Animal life is abundant and varied. Snakes and crocodiles are common, and numerous species of tropical birds abound, including parrots and touracos. Mammals include leopard, hippopotamus, wild boar, antelope, and civet.
| Guinea | Communications | Back to Top |
Poor to fair system of open-wire lines, small radiotelephone communication stations, and new microwave radio relay system domestic: microwave radio relay and radiotelephone communication international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat
| Guinea | Culture | Back to Top |
Until 1984 artistic and literary expressions were limited largely to African themes by the single political party and its leader. As a result Guinean intellectuals exhibit a strong sense of nationalism and a decolonialized state of mind. As greater openness of expression returns, a distinctly Guinean literature is gradually emerging. A truly autonomous free press has yet to emerge as a major force in Guinean life. One French-language newspaper, Horoya, formerly controlled by the PDG, is published. A number of informal newsletters are also published in indigenous languages. A television service was begun in 1977, and transmissions continue on an irregular basis for short periods each day.
The telephone network is limited and obsolescent; the few telephones in service are almost all in Conakry and other major urban centres. A program to upgrade the telecommunications system was implemented in the late 1980s. The professional National Guinean Ballet, which emerged after independence, has retained some of the dance and music of the distinct ethnic and regional groups. Creative accomplishments in modern dance and popular music have given Guinean musicians and singers an international reputation.
Handicrafts in Guinea, as elsewhere in Africa, declined sharply during the colonial era with competition from manufactured consumer goods. The lack of tourism and creative marketing since independence has limited the amount of change and innovation in local crafts, so that the leatherwork, wood carving, and jewelry produced in Guinea tend to be more genuinely ethnic than elsewhere in western Africa.
| Guinea | Defence | Back to Top |
Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Republican Guard, Presidential Guard, paramilitary
National Gendarmerie, National Police Force (Surete National)
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 1,764,912 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 891,166 (2001 est.)
| Guinea | International Disputes | Back to Top |
Border incursions by Revolutionary United Front combatants from Sierra Leone; civil war in that country has engendered a massive flow of refugees to southern Guinea and Liberia.
| Guinea | Economy | Back to Top |
The chief economic activity of Guinea is agriculture; some 87 percent of the people are dependent on subsistence farming, forestry, and fishing. The principal food crops and their production in 2000 were rice (750,000 metric tons); root crops such as cassava (1.06 million metric tons); fruits such as plantains and citrus (996,078 metric tons); and vegetables (476,000). Chief export crops are typically pineapples, peanuts, palm kernels, and coffee. Livestock in 2000 included 2.4 million cattle, 687,000 sheep, 864,000 goats, and 8.9 million poultry.
Guinea has from one-third to one-half of the world's known reserves of bauxite, plus significant reserves of high-grade iron ore at Mount Nimba and the Simandou Mountains. Alluvial gold is taken from the Niger and its tributaries, and diamond production is substantial and largely of gem-quality stones. The southeastern rain forest has some valuable species of tropical hardwoods, and both river and ocean fisheries yield large catches of food fish. Hydroelectric potential is considerable because of the high rainfall and deep gorges of the Fouta Djallon but has been only partially developed, largely to meet the demands of the alumina sector.
Guinea possesses major mineral, hydropower, and agricultural resources, yet remains a poor underdeveloped nation. The country possesses over 30% of the world's bauxite reserves and is the second largest bauxite producer. The mining sector accounted for about 75% of exports in 1999. Long-run improvements in government fiscal arrangements, literacy, and the legal framework are needed if the country is to move out of poverty. The government made encouraging progress in budget management in 1997-99, and reform progress was praised in the World Bank/IMF October 2000 assessment. However, escalating fighting along the Sierra Leonean and Liberian borders will cause major economic disruptions. In addition to direct defense costs, the violence has led to a sharp decline in investor confidence. Foreign mining companies have reduced expatriate staff, while panic buying has created food shortages and inflation in local markets. Real GDP growth is expected to fall to 2% in 2001.
| Guinea | Education | Back to Top |
Education is free and officially compulsory for all children between the ages of 7 and 13, but in 1997 only 54 percent of eligible children actually attended primary school; the enrollment ratio dropped to 14 percent for secondary schools. The adult literacy rate is 41 percent. Private schools were nationalized by 1962. Higher education is provided by universities at Conakry and Kankan and by 21 other institutions.
| Guinea | Government | Back to Top |
The president governs Guinea, assisted by his appointed council of 25 civilian ministers. Government administration is carried out at five levels: In descending order, they are: Eight regions, 33 prefectures, over 100 subprefectures, and many districts (known as communes in Conakry and other large cities and villages or "quartiers" in the interior). District-level leaders are elected; the president appoints officials to all other levels of the highly centralized administration.
| Guinea | History | Back to Top |
The area occupied by Guinea today was included in several large West African political groupings, including the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires, at various times from the 10th to the 15th century, when the region came into contact with European commerce. Guinea's colonial period began with French military penetration into the area in the mid-19th century. French domination was assured by the defeat in 1898 of the armies of Almamy Samory Touré, warlord and leader of Malinke descent, which gave France control of what today is Guinea and adjacent areas.
France negotiated Guinea's present boundaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the British for Sierra Leone, the Portuguese for their Guinea colony (now Guinea-Bissau), and the Liberia. Under the French, the country formed the Territory of Guinea within French West Africa, administered by a governor general resident in Dakar. Lieutenant governors administered the individual colonies, including Guinea.
Led by Ahmed Sékou Touré, head of the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG), which won 56 of 60 seats in 1957 territorial elections, the people of Guinea in a September 1958 plebiscite overwhelmingly rejected membership in the proposed French Community. The French withdrew quickly, and on October 2, 1958, Guinea proclaimed itself a sovereign and independent republic, with Sékou Touré as president.
Under Touré, Guinea became a one-party dictatorship, with a closed, socialized economy and no tolerance for human rights, free expression, or political opposition, which was ruthlessly suppressed. Originally credited for his advocacy of cross-ethnic nationalism, Touré gradually came to rely on his own Malinke ethnic group to fill positions in the party and government. Alleging plots and conspiracies against him at home and abroad, Touré's regime targeted real and imagined opponents, imprisoning many thousands in Soviet-style prison gulags, where hundreds perished. The regime's repression drove more than a million Guineans into exile, and Touré's paranoia ruined relations with foreign nations, including neighboring African states, increasing Guinea's isolation and further devastating its economy.
Sékou Touré and the PDG remained in power until his death on April 3, 1984, when a military junta headed by then-Lt. Col. Lansana Conte seized power.
| Guinea | Introduction | Back to Top |
Guinea, Republic of, formerly People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea, independent nation in western Africa, bounded on the north-west by Guinea-Bissau and Senegal; on the north-east by Mali; on the east and south-east by Côte d'Ivoire; on the south by Liberia and Sierra Leone; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. A former French colony, Guinea became independent on October 2, 1958. The total area of the country, including the Iles de Los lying off the coast, near Conakry, the capital, is 245,857 sq km (94,926 sq mi).
Official Name- Republic of Guinea| Guinea | Land | Back to Top |
N/A
| Guinea | Languages | Back to Top |
About 85 percent of the population of Guinea is Muslim; the remainder is split between those who adhere to traditional beliefs and Christians. French is the official language. The country has eight national languages: Mandinka (also known as Mandingo and Malinke), Susu, Fulfulde, Kissi, Basari, Loma, Koniagi, and Kpelle.
| Guinea | Life | Back to Top |
The four major geographic regions largely correspond to the areas inhabited by the major linguistic groups. In Lower Guinea the major language of Susu has gradually replaced many of the other indigenous languages and is a lingua franca for most of the coastal population. In the Fouta Djallon the major language is Pular (a dialect of Fulfulde, the language of the Fulani), while in Upper Guinea the Malinke (Maninkakan) language is the most widespread. The Forest Region contains the linguistic areas, from east to west, of Kpelle (Guerzé), Loma (Toma), and Kissi.
| Guinea | organization | Back to Top |
ACCT, ACP, AfDB, CCC, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, MINURSO, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO.
| Guinea | People | Back to Top |
Besides the diplomatic community and a growing number of expatriate teachers and technical advisers, the number of non-Guinean residents has increased considerably since 1984. This community includes Lebanese and Syrian traders and a growing number of French engaged in agriculture, business, and technical occupations.
The ethnic makeup of the people of Guinea is diverse. The most numerous of the groups (about 35 percent of the population) are the Fulani, who are concentrated mainly in the Fouta Djallon. The other principal groups comprise people of the Mande group. They include the Mandinka (also known as Mandingo or Malinke) (about 30 percent) of northeastern Guinea and the Susu (about 20 percent), who inhabit the coastal area. According to the 1983 census, the population of Guinea was 5,781,014. The estimated population in 2001 was 7,613,870, giving an overall population density of 31 persons per sq km (80 per sq mi). Some 68 percent of the population live in rural areas. The capital is Conakry, a seaport on the Atlantic Ocean. Other major cities are the railroad centers Kankan and Kindia.
Population (2002 census): 8,444,559, including refugees and foreign residents. Refugee population (June 2002 est.): 180,000-200,000 Liberians and Sierra Leoneans. Cities: Conakry (pop. 2 million). Population of largest prefectures--Guéckédou (487,017), Boké (366,915), Kindia (361,117), N'Zérékoré (328,347), Macenta (365,559). Annual growth rate (2002 census): 3.5%. Ethnic groups: Peuhl 40%, Malinke 30%, Soussou 20%, other ethnic groups 10%. Religions: Muslim 85%, Christian 8%, traditional beliefs 7%. Languages: French (official), national languages. Education: Years compulsory--8. Enrollment--primary school, 53.5% (male 67%, female 40%); secondary, 15%; and post secondary, 3%. Literacy (Total population over age 15 that can read and write, 1996 est.)--36% (male 50%, female 22%). Health (2002 World Bank): Life expectancy--total population 54 years. Infant mortality rate (2002 World Bank)--90/1000. Work force (2002 Minister of Plan--4.5 million): Agriculture--76%; industry and commerce--18%; services--6%.
| Guinea | Politics | Back to Top |
Democratic Party of Guinea or PDG-AST [Marcel CROS]; Democratic Party of Guinea-African Democratic Rally or PDG-RDA [El Hadj Ismael Mohamed Gassim GUSHEIN]; National Union for Progress or UNP [Paul Louis FABER]; Party for Unity and Progress or PUP [Lansana CONTE] - the governing party; Party for Renewal and Progress or PRP [Siradiou DIALLO]; Rally for the Guinean People or RPG [Alpha CONDE]; Union for Progress of Guinea or UPG [Jean-Marie DORE, secretary-general]; Union for the New Republic or UNR [Mamadou Boye BA]; Union of Republican Forces or UFR [Sidya TOURE].
| Guinea | Provinces | Back to Top |
33 prefectures and 1 special zone (zone special)*; Beyla, Boffa, Boke, Conakry*, Coyah, Dabola, Dalaba, Dinguiraye, Dubreka, Faranah, Forecariah, Fria, Gaoual, Gueckedou, Kankan, Kerouane, Kindia, Kissidougou, Koubia, Koundara, Kouroussa, Labe, Lelouma, Lola, Macenta, Mali, Mamou, Mandiana, Nzerekore, Pita, Siguiri, Telimele, Tougue, Yomou.
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