Guinea: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: President  Alpha Condé
Head of Government: Prime Minister Mohamed Said Fofana

Until the December 23, 2008 coup d’etat, Guinea was a constitutional republic in which effective power was concentrated in a strong presidency. A new constitution was passed and enacted by the National Transition Council (CNT) in March 2010. Legislative elections, previously scheduled for June 2007, have been repeatedly delayed. The newly elected government has promised to hold legislative elections, but has not given a timeline for these elections. Until a legislature is installed, the CNT will continue to act as Guinea’s legislative body. Government administration is carried out at several 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. The civilian president governs Guinea with the assistance of a civilian prime minister.

The population continues to be politically and ethnically divided, but the political atmosphere is currently calm. Conde’s government, having been in power for only 2 months, has promised to make dramatic reforms, including combating government corruption, rebuilding Guinea’s degraded transportation infrastructure, and improving access to electricity and potable water.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Guinea's relations with other countries, including neighboring countries, have improved steadily since 1985. However, Guinea’s image with the international community was tarnished by the December 23, 2008 coup d’etat and the violence of September 28, 2009. The African Union (AU), along with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a West African regional group, both condemned the coup and suspended Guinea’s membership in their respective organizations. The coup was condemned by the Nigerian, South African, Japanese, Canadian, French, and U.S. Governments, among others. Many bilateral assistance programs were suspended, if not after the coup, then after September 28, 2009. After Guinea’s successful presidential elections, however, almost all of Guinea’s former partners have normalized relations and Guinea has resumed its membership in the AU and ECOWAS.

Guinea reestablished relations with France and Germany in 1975, and with neighboring Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal in 1978. Guinea has been active in efforts toward regional integration and cooperation, especially regarding the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) and the Economic Organization of West African States (ECOWAS). Guinea takes its role in a variety of international organizations seriously and participates actively in their deliberations and decisions. Guinea has participated in both diplomatic and military efforts to resolve conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea-Bissau, and contributed contingents of troops to peacekeeping operations in all three countries as part of ECOMOG, the Military Observer Group of ECOWAS. Guinea has offered asylum to more than 700,000 Liberian, Sierra Leonean, and Bissauan refugees since 1990, despite the economic and environmental costs involved. Perhaps 90% or more of these refugees have since returned to their home countries.

The civil wars that engulfed Liberia and then Sierra Leone during the 1990s negatively affected relations between Guinea and these two fellow Mano River Union member countries. Guinea and Liberia accused each other of supporting opposition dissidents, and in late 2000 and early 2001, Guinean dissidents backed by the Liberian government and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels from Sierra Leone brutally attacked Guinea. These attacks caused over 1,000 Guinean deaths and displaced more than 100,000 Guineans. The attacks led to Guinea's support for the LURD (Liberians United For Reconciliation and Democracy) rebels in their attacks against the Liberian government of Charles Taylor. Taylor's departure for exile in August 2003 and the establishment of a new government in Liberia have led to a much improved relationship between the two countries.

Guinea belongs to the UN and most of its specialized related agencies, the African Union, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), African Development Bank (AFDB), Niger River Basin (NRB), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Mano River Union (MRU), Gambia River Basin Organization (OMVG), and the Nonaligned Movement (NAM).

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