Guinea’s population in 2015 was estimated to be around 12 million, making it the most populous country in West Africa. The majority of Guinean citizens identify as Muslim, with a sizeable minority of Christians also present. The Guinean economy is heavily reliant on agriculture and mining, with these two industries accounting for nearly one-third of the country’s GDP. Other exports include diamonds and gold. Guinea has strong trade ties with its West African neighbours, particularly Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, as well as other countries worldwide. In terms of politics, Guinea is a unitary presidential republic with a multi-party system. In 2015 Alpha Condé was the President after winning reelection in 2010. In foreign relations, Guinea is a member of both the United Nations and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and is actively involved in international affairs such as peacekeeping operations. Relations with its West African neighbours have been mostly positive but tensions remain between Guinea and Liberia over maritime border disputes. See ehealthfacts for Guinea in the year of 2005.
Yearbook 2015
Guinea. According to COUNTRYAAH, Conakry is the capital of Guinea which is located in Western Africa. The presidential election held in October was the dominant political issue during the year. Early in the spring, leaders of the three largest opposition parties accused President Alpha Condé of losing all legitimacy. They claimed that he had committed abuses against political opponents and used the ongoing epidemic of Ebola fever as a sweeping reason for delaying the planned local elections until 2016. In April, street protests initiated by the opposition erupted and were beaten down by police force. Several deaths were reported and hundreds of protesters were arrested according to the opposition.
- Also see AbbreviationFinder.org for Guinea country abbreviations, including geography, history, economy and politics.
Votes were also raised that Moussa Dadis Camara, who took power in a bloodless coup in 2008, would be allowed to return from his exile in Burkina Faso. Camara himself announced his intention to stand in the presidential election, but his candidacy was not approved by the Constitutional Court. In July, he was also indicted in his absence, accused of being one of the responsible for a massacre of opposition in the capital Conakry in September 2009. Prosecutions were also brought against several other junta leaders. Like 2010, Condé was the most serious opponent in the presidential election Cellou Dalein Diallo. The official election results showed that the incumbent president received 58% of the vote against Diallo’s 31%. Diallo accused the regime of electoral fraud, but the election was approved by observers from the EU and the African Union (AU). Admittedly, some practical problems were pointed out.
The Ebola fever epidemic, which started in southeastern Guinea in 2014 and spread to mainly Liberia and Sierra Leone, continued to ravage the country. From July, however, the spread slowed down, but until November about 900 people fell ill, of whom over 800 died. According to the World Health Organization, until mid-November, a total of 3,804 people had fallen ill with Ebola fever in Guinea and of these, 2 536 had died. The latest case was reported on October 29. The epidemic also had other serious consequences. The other care was severely affected, which resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of deaths in malaria. An important reason for this was also that malaria-infected people simply did not dare to seek care because of the risk of suffering from Ebola fever.