Guinea

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République de Guinée
Republic of Guinea
Flag of Guinea
Coat of arms of Guinea
flag coat of arms
Motto : Travail, Justice, Solidarité

( French , "work, justice, solidarity")

Official language French
Capital Conakry
Form of government republic
Government system Presidential system
Head of state President
Alpha Condé
Head of government Prime Minister
Ibrahima Kassory Fofana
surface 245,857 km²
population 12.53 million (as of 2020)
Population density 51 inhabitants per km²
gross domestic product
  • Total (nominal)
  • Total ( PPP )
  • GDP / inh. (nominal)
  • GDP / inh. (KKP)
 2017
  • $ 9.721 billion ( 138. )
  • $ 26.467 billion ( 136. )
  • 749 USD ( 175. )
  • 2,041 USD ( 171. )
Human Development Index 0.459 (175.)
currency Franc Guinea (GNF)
independence October 2, 1958 (by France )
National anthem Liberté
Time zone UTC ± 0
License Plate RG
ISO 3166 GN , GIN, 324
Internet TLD .gn
Telephone code +224
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Gallery forest near Simandou

Guinea [ giˈneːa ] ( French La Guinée [ giˈne ]) is a state in West Africa bordering Guinea-Bissau , Senegal , Mali , the Ivory Coast , Liberia , Sierra Leone and the Atlantic Ocean (clockwise from the northwest) . The former French colony gained its independence on October 2, 1958. Despite the abundance of natural resources , the majority of the citizens live in poverty , which was made worse by the dictatorship of Ahmed Sékou Touré . The capital of Guinea is Conakry .

geography

Guinea is located in West Africa between 7 ° and 12 ° north latitude and 8 ° and 15 ° west longitude . The state can be divided into four landscape areas (from west to east): the coastal region of Lower Guinea , the mountainous Fouta Djallon or Central Guinea, which reaches up to 1537 meters, the flatter Upper Guinea and the hilly forest Guinea . In particular, the central and southeastern part of the country is located on the Upper Guinea Sill . The Mount Richard-Molard who, in Forest Guinea in the far southeast of the country on the border with Ivory Coast is, with 1752 meters the highest mountain of both states. The nature reserve around Mont Nimba has been on the UNESCO list of world cultural and natural heritage since 1982 .

Some important West African rivers originate in Guinea: the Niger and several of its tributaries mainly in Forest Guinea, the Gambia and the Bafing , a source river of Senegal in the Fouta Djallon. All of these rivers drain a large part of West Africa.

The habitats vary from mangroves on the Atlantic coast, the plateau plateaus in Central Guinea, the savannah grasslands in Upper Guinea and the rainforest in the southeast, in Forest Guinea.

climate

In Guinea there is a tropical alternating climate with rainy and dry seasons of different lengths from region to region. On the coast it is hot and humid with high precipitation, east of the Fouta-Djalon plateau the precipitation is decreasing. The precipitation of the West African monsoons falls between April and November with tropical thunderstorms and violent storms; in the southern rainforest areas they usually begin in February. The peak of the monsoons is reached in July and August. The dry season is from November to April . During this time the country is under the influence of the north-east trade winds Harmattan from the Sahara.

Temperatures in Guinea average 22 ° C to 32 ° C, the maximum temperatures are between 28 and 35 ° C. In the Fouta-Djalon plateau, the lowest temperatures in winter are 6 ° C. In the capital Conakry on the Atlantic coast, regardless of the rainy or dry season, there is an almost constant temperature between 24 and 32 ° C day and night, the annual rainfall in Conakry is more than 4,000 mm. Due to the high humidity (up to 98 percent), the climate is perceived by visitors as muggy and very tiring. The months at the beginning and end of the rainy season (May / June and October / November) with tropical thunderstorms, hurricane-like storms and downpours are particularly unfavorable.

population

Population pyramid Guinea 2016

62.3 percent of the approximately 12.4 million (2016) population of Guinea live in the countryside, 37.7% in the cities.

Age structure:

  • 0-14 years: 44.4%
  • 15–64 years: 52.4%
  • 65 years and older: 3.2%

The median age is around 17 years, ie half of the population is younger than this value. The life expectancy is 59.2 years in 2016 to around. The population growth is 2.37% (2004). According to the UN, a population of over 26 million is expected for the year 2050.

year population
1950 03,094,000
1960 03,577,000
1970 04,220,000
1980 04,512,000
1990 06,041,000
2000 08,809,000
2010 10,794,000
2016 12,396,000

Source: UN

Ethnic groups

The three largest ethnic groups - among a total of more than 40 peoples - are now largely Islamized:

  • 40% make up the Fulbe ( Felatta , French Peul ), they are the largest ethnic group and live mainly in the Fouta-Djalon highlands and in the capital Conakry,
  • 26% are Malinke and live in Upper Guinea,
  • 11% are Susu , who are native to the coastal region.

Among the smaller ethnic groups, the Kpèlè with 6%, the Kissi with 5%, the Toma and the Baga are the best known, they live mostly in forest Guinea and are mostly followers of traditional religions .

In addition, there are Lebanese immigrants mainly in the cities; the first came to the country more than 100 years ago; they dominate much of the trade and the hotel industry. In 2017, 1% of the population was born abroad. When civil war raged in the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia , numerous refugees came to Guinea from these countries. Even today there are around 40,000 (as of 2007).

Religions

The predominant religion in Guinea is Sunni Islam.

Muslims 85%, ethnic religions 7%, Christians 8%.

The Christian minorities (mostly Roman Catholic) have their followers in Conakry and in Forest Guinea , including:

Guinea and the Holy See have diplomatic relations. Apostolic Nuncio has been Archbishop Tymon Tytus Chmielecki since March 2019 .

education

In 2015, the illiteracy rate in Guinea was 69.6%, the enrollment rate in primary school around 50%, in secondary school around 10% and in higher education around 1%.

There are five universities in Guinea , three in the capital Conakry, one in Kankan (with a branch in Faranah ) and one near Labé , with a total of around 35,000 students.

In addition to the official language French , Fulfulde (Peulh, Fula), Malinke and Susu as well as other native languages ​​are spoken. A total of eight official languages ​​are recognized, six of which are also teaching languages. The Toma , based in Forest Guinea and Liberia, have their own writing system.

health

Since the beginning of 2014, the deadly Ebola virus has spread massively in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea . It was the largest Ebola epidemic since the virus was discovered in 1976. According to the Doctors Without Borders deployed there , the epidemic had gotten out of control since June 2014. From the beginning of the epidemic in December 2013 to July 26, 2015, 3786 people in Guinea had officially contracted Ebola and 2520 died from it.

In 2015, the Ebola vaccine VSV-Zebov was successfully tested in a field study with 7,500 participants in Guinea. The Ebola epidemic is now considered defeated and ended, but many people in Guinea are still suffering from the personal, social and economic consequences, especially in the villages and cities of forest Guinea , where many people fell ill with the Ebola virus and died or migrated and there are sensitive gaps have left behind.

In 2015, 17.5% of the population were malnourished. In 2000 the share was still 26.3%.

According to UNICEF , 97% of women and 45% of girls were genital mutilated between 2010 and 2018 . That's one of the highest rates in the world.

Life expectancy development in Guinea

Period Life expectancy in
years 		Period Life expectancy in
years
1950-1955 33.1 1985-1990 47.9
1955-1960 34.3 1990-1995 51.3
1960-1965 35.4 1995-2000 51.6
1965-1970 36.1 2000-2005 51.3
1970-1975 37.4 2005-2010 55.5
1975-1980 39.9 2010-2015 57.9
1980-1985 43.1

Source: UN

history

Around the year 900 the Mandingue immigrated to Guinea from the northeast. The Soussou tribe settled in Lower Guinea, while the less numerous Malinké settled in Upper Guinea. The indigenous population consisting of pygmy peoples was expelled. 1726 was established in Fouta Djallon , in today's Middle Guinea, the Fulani - theocracy . It ended in 1905 with the deportation of Labé's last king , Alpha Yaya , to Dahomey .

From 1850 systematic colonization attempts by France began , which met with some fierce resistance, especially in what is now Upper Guinea under the leadership of Samory Touré . After Germany gave up its claims to Kapitaï and Koba in 1885 , what is now Guinea became a French colony in 1892/93 as part of French West Africa . The right to vote for women became law during the colonial period : according to the Loi Lamine Guèye of 1946, all citizens had the right to vote in elections to the French parliament and also in local elections. The right to stand as a candidate was not specifically mentioned in the law, but it was not excluded either. In the elections to the Paris parliament, there was no two-tier suffrage in French West Africa, which included Guinea, as in other French colonies, but there was for all local elections. In 1956, still under French administration, the loi-cadre Defferre was introduced, which guaranteed universal suffrage.

On September 28, 1958, Guinea was the only French colony in Africa to vote in a referendum to achieve full independence . On October 2, 1958, the First Republic was proclaimed with Ahmed Sékou Touré as President; there was a break with France. The women's suffrage was confirmed. In November 1958, Guinea established diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany . In November 1970, the Portuguese landed in Guinea and an attempted coup by Guineans in exile. The Operação Mar Verde ('Operation Green Sea') failed, however. After Sekou Touré's death on March 26, 1984, Colonel Lansana Conté took power on April 3, 1984 , supported by a military committee. The Second Republic was proclaimed.

After the outbreak of civil war in the neighboring countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone in 1990 , thousands of refugees came to Guinea; temporarily up to 700,000. On December 19, 1993, General Lansana Conté was confirmed as president in the first democratic presidential election. This was followed by the proclamation of the 3rd Republic in January 1994. In the following years there were uprisings that culminated in February 1996 with the suppression of a military revolt. On December 18, 1998, President Lansana Conté was confirmed in office for another five years with 54% of the votes cast, although the opposition parties speak of massive electoral fraud . Several opposition politicians were arrested the next day. On March 8, 1999, Conté appointed the President of the Supreme Court, Lamine Sidimé from the “ Parti de l'Unité et du Progrès ” (PUP), as the new head of government.

From September 2000 to March 2001, Guinea fended off attacks by Sierra Leonean and Liberian rebels on Guinean territory. As a result of the civil war in Sierra Leone , up to 500,000 refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone were temporarily in Guinea. At a summit meeting of the presidents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in Rabat in February 2002, ways of resolving the regional conflict were discussed. In November 2001, a controversial referendum on constitutional amendments created the legal requirements for President Lansana Conté to remain in office beyond 2003. In June 2002 the parliamentary elections that were boycotted by important opposition parties and that were not democratic ended with a clear victory for the PUP presidential party.

The political standstill under Conté showed its consequences. According to a report by Transparency International in November 2006, Guinea is the most corrupt country in Africa. Horrific price increases drove the population under the leadership of the traditionally strong trade unions into three major general strikes in 2006 alone. Until then, everyone seemed to be waiting for the natural end of the government of the aged Conté, which had long been looming due to his health, which had been badly affected by diabetes and excessive cigarette consumption, the unions had set themselves the goal of dismissing Conté in the general strike in January and February 2007. Protests were massively suppressed by the security forces, with at least 200 people being shot dead in the clashes. In the meantime, martial law has also been declared. In mid-February, the president finally agreed to appoint a prime minister, with whom the unions also agreed.

The new cabinet led by Lansana Kouyaté did not include any minister from the previous administration of President Lansana Conté. The opposition was cautiously optimistic about the government's appointment. However, the overall situation remained tense. The continuation of the general strike, which was interrupted in 2007, was announced for January 2008 - there was again demand that President Conté resign because, contrary to an agreement concluded in February 2007, he was taking decisions that were beyond his authority.

Kouyaté was deposed in May 2008. In the same month there were unrest in parts of the army, which were justified with outstanding pay. The police went on strike in mid-June 2008, after which the military temporarily regulated traffic in Conakry. There were arrests of police officers by the army, and there was talk of dead police officers in the media; a few days later, teachers and doctors also went on strike. On June 20, 2008, President Conté presented the list of the new cabinet. The 34 ministers and two general secretaries included representatives of the opposition for the first time.

On December 22, 2008, Guinea's President Lansana Conté died after a long illness. Immediately afterwards, the military carried out a coup. The then captain Moussa Dadis Camara declared on the state radio that the government and other institutions of the republic had been dissolved, the activities of the trade unions would be stopped and the constitution suspended; a “consultative council” consisting of civilians and members of the army will soon be set up. Guinea's constitution stipulated that parliamentary president Aboubacar Somparé should take over the office of the late president and organize parliamentary elections within 60 days. A National Council for Democracy and Development was formed on December 24, 2008 , headed by Camara as head of state. This national council is supposed to govern Guinea until new elections.

On December 3, 2009, Camara was seriously injured in an assassination attempt. His deputy Sékouba Konaté took over the official business, with which Camara was de facto disempowered. On January 19, 2010, Konaté installed the opposition politician Jean-Marie Doré as the new Prime Minister. This should form a transitional government and prepare free elections within six months. On June 27, 2010, the first round of presidential elections was held. The ballot was peaceful and was initially reported to be the first democratic election since the country's independence. The runoff election between the former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo and the long-standing opposition leader Alpha Condé was postponed several times, most recently the ballot planned for September 19, 2010 had to be canceled for organizational reasons. After the Guinean Election Commission set the election date for October 10, 2010, voters could not go to the polls until November 7, 2010. Only a week after the elections and further unrest in the capital, Conakry, did the election commission announce the result. Alpha Condé won against Diallo with 52.5% of the vote.

politics

Constitution and Parliament

According to the 1991 constitution, Guinea is a presidential republic. Following a constitutional amendment in November 2001, the president was directly elected by the people for a term of seven years (previously five years). Since 2010 he can serve for up to ten years; a term of office is again five years. In 2020, a constitutional amendment was adopted in a referendum , which allows President Condé two more six-year terms in office.

The one-chamber parliament, the National Assembly , consists of 114 members. The most important parties are the Rassemblement du Peuple de Guinée (RPG), the Union des forces démocratiques de Guinée (UFDG) and the Union des forces républicaines (UFR).

After the death of President Lansana Conté in December 2008, the constitution was suspended by the military and the government replaced. In 2010 Alpha Condé took over the presidency. The last election to the National Assembly took place in 2013; the election due in 2018 has been postponed several times and is now to take place in 2020, see parliamentary election in Guinea 2020 .

In the 2019 democracy index of the British magazine The Economist, Guinea ranks 133rd out of 167 countries, making it one of the authoritarian states. In the country report Freedom in the World 2017 by the US non-governmental organization Freedom House , the country's political system is rated as “partially free”.

Human rights

Guinea became a military dictatorship just a few years after the state was founded in 1958. Today's constitution is formally committed to the separation of powers and fixes general civil and fundamental rights, which in practice have so far hardly been realized or only in rudimentary form.

On September 28, 2009 there was a bloodbath in Conakry by the military government under the military dictator Moussa Dadis Camara, who was trained at the army officers' school in Dresden . Around 50,000 people demonstrated against the country's military leadership in a stadium in the capital that day. According to eyewitness reports, security forces shot at the people. At least 157 people were killed in the brutal crackdown on the demonstration, according to human rights groups and local hospitals. Furthermore, at least 100 women were mass raped by soldiers during the day.

On February 22, 2010, the ARD reported on the show fact about unimaginable atrocities in Guinea. The atrocities were also committed by government soldiers who had been trained in Germany by the Bundeswehr, including those primarily responsible. According to fact, officers were still being trained for the army of Guinea in Germany at the time. The Bundeswehr training for Guinea began in 1965.

After the Corruption Perception Index ( Corruption Perceptions Index ) of Transparency International was Guinea in 2017 by 180 countries, along with Nigeria and the Comoros on the 148th place, with 27 out of a maximum 100 points.

Foreign policy

The country is a member of the African Union and the Movement of Non-Aligned States , which illustrates the two principles of foreign policy, non-alignment and pan-African cooperation. In 2017, Guinea chaired the African Union through its President Alpha Condé. For Guinea, the focus is on relations with neighboring countries in the West African ECOWAS because of the common policies, for example on customs and economic issues or with regard to the freedom of travel and movement of citizens. During the civil wars in the neighboring states of Liberia , Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast , Guinea took in over a million refugees from these states, despite the high economic costs and the precarious situation in their own country. Most of these people have now returned to their home countries. In order to counteract the instability that is widespread in the regional environment, the country takes part in actions aimed at political stabilization in neighboring countries. For example, Guinea provided a battalion of soldiers for the United Nations MINUSMA mission in Mali, which has already been the target of terrorist attacks on several occasions.

In its non-African relations, the country is primarily trying to attract foreign direct investment and to deepen development cooperation. The country has significant raw material deposits, which makes it economically attractive despite its underdevelopment. Countries with which there is traditionally close cooperation in the exploitation of raw materials are Canada , Russia and the USA . In recent years the People's Republic of China has been added, which invests heavily in the country's infrastructure and in return has access to the country's resources. In addition, the Chinese are now likely to constitute the largest non-African foreign group in Guinea. However, the most important partners are still the states of the European Union , which are the country's most important trading partners and the most important donors of development and economic aid. Particularly noteworthy are the relations with the former colonial power France, with which the country has entered into a close partnership since relations were resumed in 1975. Other European countries with their own embassy in Conakry are Germany , United Kingdom , Spain , Italy and Belgium . As a country with a majority Muslim population, it is a member of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation and accordingly has close ties to the countries of the Islamic world. Diplomatic contacts with Morocco , Saudi Arabia , the UAE and Turkey are particularly well developed .

Administrative division

Guinea is divided into 8 regions and these into 33 prefectures , the capital Conakry forming a separate region without any further subdivision. Below the prefecture level, Guinea is further divided into 341 sub-prefectures .

Guinea-Bissau Senegal Mali Elfenbeinküste Liberia Sierra Leone Conakry Region Boké Region Labé Region Faranah Region Mamou Region Kindia Region Kankan Region Nzérékoré
Regions of Guinea
Regions and prefectures of Guinea, all named after their respective capitals
region Capital Residents 2014 Associated prefectures
Boké Boké 1,083,147 Boffa , Boké , Fria , Gaoual , Koundara
Conakry Conakry (Capital District) 1,660,973 -
Faranah Faranah 941,554 Dabola , Dinguiraye , Faranah , Kissidougou
Kankan Kankan 1,972,537 Kankan , Kérouané , Kouroussa , Mandiana , Siguiri
Kindia Kindia 1,561,374 Coyah , Dubréka , Forécariah , Kindia , Télimélé
Labé Labé 994.458 Koubia , Labé , Lélouma , Mali , Tougué
Mamou Mamou 731.188 Dalaba , Mamou , Pita
Nzérékoré Nzérékoré 1,578,030 Beyla , Guéckédou , Lola , Macenta , Nzérékoré , Yomou

Guinea is also unofficially divided into four geographically defined, so-called supra regions, 30 regions and the capital district. There is a subdivision into the regions of Lower Guinea , Upper Guinea , Fouta Djallon (Central Guinea) and Forest Guinea .

Cities

The largest cities are (as of 2014 census):

economy

General

The Guinean economy is still marred by the mismanagement of Touré that lasted into the 1980s. It led to the complete breakdown of the infrastructure , and most of the companies were state-owned. In 1984 a start was made to establish a market-oriented exchange rate system and either privatize or dissolve all state-owned companies. Since 2010 there has been increased investment in the infrastructure. The Guinean Franc replaced the Syli, which was valid from 1971 to 1986, as the currency . However, the outbreak of the Ebola virus epidemic in 2014 seriously damaged the country's economy. Nevertheless, the economy grew by 0.4% in 2015, and growth of 4% is expected for 2016. However, Guinea ranks next to last on the Global Innovation Index , which assessed the innovative capacity of a total of 128 countries in 2016. In 2017, the country ranks 169th out of 180 countries in the index for economic freedom .

Guinea's most important trading partners are the People's Republic of China , the European Union , the USA and Russia . The gross domestic product (GDP) for 2017 is estimated at 9.7 billion US dollars. In purchasing power parity , GDP is US $ 26.5 billion or US $ 2040 per inhabitant. Real growth was 9.7%. During the same period, inflation was around 9%.

The unemployment rate is given as only 2.8% in 2017, however almost all employment relationships are informal and underemployment is widespread. In 2006, 76% of the workforce worked in agriculture. The total number of employees is estimated at 5.6 million for 2017, 49.1% of them women, which is one of the highest proportions in the Islamic world.

In the Global Competitiveness Index , which measures a country's competitiveness, Guinea ranks 119th out of 137 countries (as of 2017-2018). In the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index 2018, the country ranks 153rd out of 190 countries.

Key figures

All GDP values ​​are given in US dollars ( purchasing power parity ).

year 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
GDP
(purchasing power parity) 		5.51 billion 7.53 billion 9.92 billion 12.96 billion 13.70 billion 14.98 billion 15.90 billion 15.78 billion 16.64 billion 17.94 billion 19.35 billion 20.44 billion 21.57 billion 22.57 billion 24.37 billion 26.47 billion
GDP per capita
(purchasing power parity) 		916 961 1,134 1,354 1,398 1,490 1,542 1,489 1,530 1,607 1,690 1,740 1,791 1,828 1.926 2,041
GDP growth
(real) 		3.7% 5.1% 4.0% 4.5% 4.2% 6.3% 7.0% −0.6% 6.9% 6.0% 7.3% 8.4% 8.8% 8.8% 8.2% 9.7%
Inflation
(in percent) 		25.7% 5.6% 6.8% 31.4% 34.7% 22.9% 18.4% 4.7% 15.5% 21.4% 15.2% 11.9% 9.7% 8.2% 8.2% 8.9%
Public debt
(as a percentage of GDP) 		72% 67% 91% 98% 95% 61% 58% 61% 69% 58% 27% 34% 35% 42% 43% 40%

State budget

The state budget included expenditures in 2016 of the equivalent of 1,857 million US dollars , which were income equivalent to 1,428 million US dollars towards. This results in a budget deficit of 6.7% of GDP . The national debt amounted to 56.0% of GDP in 2016.

In 2006, the share of government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP) was as follows:

Transportation

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In the Logistics Performance Index compiled by the World Bank , Guinea was ranked 145th out of 160 countries. In an international comparison, the country occupies one of the lowest places.

95% of the transport of people and goods takes place on the road. Other modes of transport only play a subordinate role. Road traffic in the country is considered extremely unsafe. In 2013 there were a total of 27.3 road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in Guinea. For comparison: In Germany there were 4.3 deaths in the same year. Given the relatively low number of motorized vehicles in the country, the death rate is among the highest in the world.

Road network

Usual gasoline sales in glass and plastic bottles

In 2003, the road network in Guinea comprised around 44,350 kilometers, of which around ten percent were paved. A state source from 2001 gives a total length of the roads with around 35,000 kilometers, of which almost 10,000 kilometers are supposed to be asphalted. In many places the asphalt ends abruptly, and many roads also have holes, cracks and erosion because they are not built to be stable enough or are insufficiently maintained. In addition, not all settlements can be reached by motor vehicle. During the rainy season, which lasts from May to October, not all roads and bridges are passable. There are petrol stations only in cities, on site petrol is usually offered in single-liter glass bottles.

railroad

At the beginning of the 20th century, the French planned and built several railway lines to develop the country. The main piece was the so-called Niger Railway, which connected Conakry with Kankan on a stretch of more than 600 kilometers. From there there was a ship connection to Bamako. Today the rail traffic is almost completely stopped and no longer passable. The line is only used for fuel transports to Mamou .

The construction of the Trans-Guinea Railway is intended to enable the transport of iron ore from the deposits discovered in 2002 on Simandou Hill near Moribadou in Forest Guinea , in the south of the country, to an overseas port (also yet to be built). The construction of the more than 650 kilometers long line should begin in 2007. A construction period of six to seven years was estimated. The cost has been estimated at up to $ 17 billion. The construction of the railway was mainly prevented by the collapse of iron prices, the Ebola epidemic and the resale of the mining rights of the British mining company Rio Tinto Group in 2016.

In 2019, it was decided to build a 135-kilometer route to remove bauxite . The railway line in the Boké area is scheduled to open in 2021 and will be operated by a consortium from Guinea, Singapore and China .

shipping

The Conakry seaport has a container transshipment point with a total storage capacity of around 8,000 TEU , a landing stage for oil tankers and a loading point for mineral raw materials. There is another port in Kamsar for shipping bauxite.

The exchange of goods by water with the neighboring country of Mali is only possible for about four months a year; the boats depart from Kouroussa on the Niger and from Kankan on the Milo . In this way, around 500 tonnes (grain, nuts, palm oil, oranges, peas) are exported annually. The imports from Mali amount to about 1000 t annually (dates, corn, millet, fresh onions, peanuts, smoked fish, handicraft products).

air traffic

Guinea has 15 airfields, four more are operated by the mining companies. The international airport Conakry has the greatest importance , from the other airports there are only domestic flights. From 1994 to 1998 Conakry Airport had an annual average of 250,000 air passengers. The neighboring airports of Dakar and Abidjan each had four times the number of passengers. Air freight averaged 4,700 tons per year in Conakry during the same period. In domestic air traffic, the number of passengers fell in 1998 to 12,500 passengers (after an average of 25,000 passengers in previous years). Since there is no longer a national airline, regular domestic traffic has now been completely discontinued.

Culture

music

Under the government of Sekou Touré, traditional music in particular was promoted and is still very popular today. The most famous dance groups are the Ballet Africain and the Ballet Djoliba , both of which also perform in Europe. The group Les Amazones de Guinée has only female members (musicians and dancers) . The Guinean griot musician Mory Kanté also achieved international fame .

National flag

The national colors of Guinea were arranged as a tricolor, following the example of France: red symbolizes the sacrifices made by the people in their struggle for freedom, yellow represents the sun and mineral resources, green is reminiscent of the country's lush vegetation.

media

Because of the high proportion of illiterate people , radio , especially radio , plays an important role in informing the population in Guinea. In addition to the state broadcaster Radio Télévision Guinéenne (RTG), there are also private providers and the foreign services of international broadcasters.

In addition to the state daily newspaper Horoya ("Freedom"), there are several privately operated weekly newspapers and a large number of online magazines .

The digital infrastructure is under construction. Access to the Internet is primarily available in and near cities. The fixed network is operated by the Société des Télécommunications de Guinée (SOTELGUI) , while the mobile network and Internet access are offered by several providers .

In the 2017 press freedom ranking published by Reporters Without Borders , Guinea was ranked 101st out of 180 countries. According to the non-governmental organization, there are "recognizable problems" with the situation of press freedom in the country. By Freedom House Guinea was of 199 countries placed in 2015 to rank 140 ( "not free").

public holidays

  • State Holidays :
    • New Year : January 1st
    • National holiday, Day of the 2nd Republic : April 3rd
    • Labor Day : May 1st
    • Liberation Day of the African Continent : May 25th
    • National Day, Independence Day : October 2nd
  • Christian Holidays :
    • Easter Monday
    • Assumption of Mary: August 15th
    • Christmas: December 25th
  • Islamic Holidays :
    • Laila Toul Kadr
    • Tabaski : feast of the sheep sacrifice
    • Id al-fitr: Festival of the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan
    • Mawlid an-Nabi : Birth of the Prophet Mohammed

Sports

Football is the most popular sport in Guinea. Many young talents train hard and hope to be discovered and promoted so that they can play in a European club and thus escape the poverty of Guinea. Despite a lack of international success, the national team of Guinea , called "Le Sylli National", is very popular. The most famous players are Kaba Diawara (formerly active at Girondins Bordeaux and Olympique Marseille ), Pascal Feindouno ( AS Saint-Étienne ), Pablo Thiam (formerly FC Bayern Munich , VfB Stuttgart , VfL Wolfsburg , 1. FC Cologne ), Ibrahima Yattara , Daouda Jabi from Trabzonspor and Naby Keita from Liverpool FC as well as Titi Camara , former crowd favorite and player for Champions League winner Liverpool FC. Paul Labile Pogba (born March 15, 1993 in Lagny-sur-Marne) is of Guinean descent and football player for the national team of France.

Armed forces

The regular armed forces of Guinea, the Forces armées guinéennes , are about 9700 strong. In addition there are 7,500 recruits of two years of military service . Despite its status as a military dictatorship , neither the size nor the budget of the armed forces are above average compared to other states . In 2017, Guinea spent almost 2.3 percent of its economic output or 127 million US dollars on its armed forces.

history

Between 1958 and 1984 the majority of the soldiers were deployed for development tasks in the country. Pioneers repaired roads and built bridges, the military operated factories that also produced for civilian needs. In addition to the army there was a strong militia armed only with small arms . After Sekou Touré's death, the militia was integrated into the army . In 1960 Guinea dispatched a battalion to participate in the ONUC mission in the Congo. In the 1970s, the Guinean army supported liberation movements in Africa (ANC, PAIGC) through training, logistics and direct combat participation. As part of the ECOMOG mission, Guinea was the largest provider of troops after Nigeria and Ghana, and Guinean staff officers served there in high leadership positions. Since 2000, Guinea receives US - military aid , especially in training and modernization of the armed forces. The European Union imposed an arms embargo on Guinea in 2009 following a massacre of opposition activists .

Land Forces

Guinea is divided into four military regions - the 1st with headquarters in Kindia ; the 2nd with staff in Labé ; the 3rd with staff in Kankan ; the 4th with staff in Nzérékoré and the special zone Conakry with staff in the Alpha-Yaya barracks. The Guinean army is divided into eight independent infantry battalions in the country; a tank battalion , the staff of an engineer battalion and an artillery department with anti-aircraft batteries are stationed in Conakry, as is the staff and security battalion . Four infantry battalions have had additional command training, the rest are infantry battalions. The four companies of the engineer battalion are assigned to the military zones. The army has tanks of the Soviet types T-34 , T-54 and PT-76 , IFVs BMP-1 , missile launchers BM-27 and anti-aircraft missile complexes 9K35 Strela-10 .

Air Force

The country's 800-strong air force has MiG 21 fighter aircraft and aircraft for dropping paratroopers ( An-12 and An-24 ). Some Mil Mi-24 combat helicopters are also in the inventory, as is a modern Eurocopter AS550 C3 Fennec .

marine

The 400-strong Navy (Armée de Mer) has patrol boats , torpedo speedboats and landing ships .

Well-known people from Guinea

literature

Web links

Commons : Guinea  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Guinea  - explanations of meanings, origins of words, synonyms, translations
Wikimedia Atlas: Guinea  - geographical and historical maps
Wikivoyage: Guinea  Travel Guide

Individual evidence

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  2. ↑ imf.org of the International Monetary Fund
  3. ↑ Human Development Report Office: Guinea - Country Profile: Human Development Indicators , accessed September 30, 2018.
  4. ↑ Der Spiegel 12/1960 - The elephant.
  5. ↑ https://www.laender-lexikon.de/Guinea
  6. ↑ Urban population (% of total) | Data. Retrieved July 21, 2017 (American English).
  7. ↑ Life expectancy at birth, total (years) | Data. Retrieved July 21, 2017 (American English).
  8. ↑ World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. Retrieved July 28, 2017 .
  9. ↑ laender-lexikon.de
  10. ↑ Migration Report 2017. (PDF) UN, accessed on September 30, 2018 (English).
  11. ↑ UNHCR Welcome. In: unhcr.org. Retrieved February 28, 2015 .
  12. ↑ cmalliance.org
  13. ^ The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved July 21, 2017 .
  14. ↑ campusguineeinfo.net
  15. ↑ Ebola in West Africa: "Completely Out of Control" . Süddeutsche.de, June 23, 2014.
  16. ^ WHO : Ebola Situation Reports . August 1, 2015.
  17. ^ Zeit Online : VSV-ZEBOV - Ebola vaccine successfully tested in Guinea , July 31, 2015.
  18. ↑ Fabian Urech: Suffering from Ebola. The disease haunts the country of origin. The virus lives on in the mind. Four years after the Ebola epidemic, the people in Guinea, where the disaster originated, are still suffering from the consequences. Would the country be prepared for the virus to return? NZZ Zurich December 8, 2017, pp. 49–51.
  19. ↑ Prevalence of undernourishment (% of population) | Data. Retrieved March 10, 2018 (American English).
  20. ↑ The state of the world's children 2019 (PDF) October 2019, accessed on July 8, 2020 (English, Table 11, p. 233).
  21. ↑ World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. Retrieved July 15, 2017 .
  22. ^ Franz Ansperger: Politics in Black Africa: The modern political movements in Africa with French characteristics. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH Wiesbaden, 1961, p. 73.
  23. ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 9.
  24. ↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. Retrieved October 2, 2018 .
  25. ↑ cf. AFP : Military coup in Guinea following the death of President Conté on google.com, 23 December 2008.
  26. ↑ zenithonline.de
  27. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : Civilian Head of Government in Guinea , January 20, 2010.
  28. ↑ Guinea: Carter Center Launches Election Observation Mission to Country , Allafrica , May 25, 2010.
  29. ↑ Guinea: Country Earns UN Plaudits After Peaceful Staging of Presidential Election , Allafrica , June 28, 2010.
  30. ^ Guinea's presidential elections 'postponed' , BBC News , September 15, 2010.
  31. ↑ Guinea: Election Commission Sets New Date For Polls Allafrica of September 24, 2010.
  32. ↑ a b Condé declared the winner in Guinea , FAZ, November 16, 2010, p. 7.
  33. ↑ Guinea: Clear majority in favor of changing the constitution. deutschlandfunk.de from March 28, 2020, accessed on March 28, 2020.
  34. ↑ Military 'seizes power' in Guinea BBC of December 23, 2008.
  35. ↑ Democracy-Index 2019 Overview chart with comparative values ​​to previous years , on economist.com
  36. ↑ Tagesschau: Military government instigates bloodbath in Guinea ( Memento of October 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  37. ↑ Allgemeine-zeitung.de
  38. ↑ orf.at
  39. ↑ Dozens of women raped by soldiers DerStandard.at accessed on July 22, 2014.
  40. ↑ ARD broadcast FAKT from February 22, 2010. ( Memento from February 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  41. ↑ Deutschlandradio, May 4, 2011: Markus Frenzel in conversation with Jasper Barenberg.
  42. ↑ Markus Frenzel : Corpses in the cellar. How Germany supports international war criminals , April 2011, Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, ISBN 978-3-423-24876-1 .
  43. ^ Deutschlandradio Kultur , April 6, 2011: Publicist: Germany supports genocide. Interview with Markus Frenzel.
  44. ^ Transparency International eV: Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 . In: www.transparency.org . ( transparency.org [accessed February 9, 2018]).
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  46. ↑ Guinea: Regions & Cities - Population Statistics in Maps and Tables. Retrieved January 1, 2018 .
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  48. ↑ heritage.org
  49. ^ Federal Foreign Office - Guinea Economy , last seen on August 6, 2016.
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  51. ^ The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed August 6, 2018 .
  52. ↑ Country / Economy Profiles . In: Global Competitiveness Index 2017–2018 . ( weforum.org [accessed January 24, 2018]).
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  54. ^ Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Retrieved September 7, 2018 (American English).
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  57. ^ The Fischer World Almanac 2010: Figures Data Facts, Fischer, Frankfurt, September 8, 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-72910-4 .
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  60. ↑ indexmundi.com
  61. ↑ eda.admin.ch
  62. ↑ Fabian Urech: The largest iron ore treasure in the world slumbers in a chain of hills in Guinea. Many wanted to raise it, all of them failed. A report. The Simandou hill range in Guinea is worth more than 100 billion dollars. But everyone who has approached the huge iron ore supply so far has fallen into ruin. A story about a gold rush, corruption - and a railroad . NZZ Zurich, March 8, 2018
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  64. ↑ a b c d Guinea - total - mass media and communication. In: Munzinger Archive Countries. Munzinger, August 22, 2017, accessed on December 20, 2017 (chargeable login required).
  65. ↑ Ranking list of press freedom. Reporters Without Borders, accessed August 13, 2017 .
  66. ↑ globaldefence.net , Guinean troop strength.
  67. ↑ Home | SIPRI. Retrieved July 10, 2017 (English).
  68. ^ The daily newspaper of February 28, 2003: Poor house with rich friends .
  69. ↑ See NZZ Online: EU imposes arms embargo on Guinea - sanctions against military regime after the massacre in Conakry .
  70. ↑ See Aerospaceweb.org: Known MiG21 Operators .

Coordinates: 11 °  N , 11 °  W