Guinea

Monthly Event Reports GSOD Indices

Guinea, also known as Guinea-Conakry, is a low-income country exhibiting low performance in all categories of the Global State of Democracy framework. It is amongst the bottom 25 of the world’s countries in the majority of factors of democratic performance. Over the last five years, the country has experienced significant declines across multiple aspects of Representation, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law. These stark declines reflect the 2021 coup that overthrew President Alpha Condé and installed a military regime. Economically, Guinea remains heavily reliant on the agriculture sector and the mining of bauxite, diamonds, gold, and iron ore.

Present-day Guinea was long inhabited by hunter-gatherer populations before the dawn of the Mali and Fulani empires. The Portuguese arrived in the 15th century and developed a slave trade, and the country eventually became a French colony in the 19th century. A 1958 independence referendum made Guinea the first French colony in Africa to gain independence. Subsequently, the country became an authoritarian regime under Presidents Sekou Touré and Lansana Conté. During this time, Guinea experienced coups, human rights abuses – including the use of concentration camps and severe poverty. It was also impacted by the effects of civil wars in neighboring countries. While the 1990 constitution allowed multiparty elections to be held in 1993, the first democratic election did not occur until 2010, when Alpha Condé was elected president.

Throughout Guinea’s post-independence history, the body politic has been significantly molded by ethnic cleavages. Ethnic and regional voting is widespread, as politicians exploit ethnic divides between the Fulani (approximately 40 per cent of the population) and the Malinké (approximately 30 per cent) to win power; these divisions have also resulted in ethnic violence and turmoil. Indeed, many scholars have labelled the degree of political polarization that exists between the government and the opposition to be “extreme.” Other issues of identity continue to divide Guineans. The country has one of the highest rates of female genital mutilation at 95 per cent, gender-based violence affects nine in ten women and girls, and women’s political representation has remained weak despite the adoption of the Gender Parity Law in 2021. Guinea is also one of the few former French colonies that continues to criminalize same-sex relationships.

For the general population, issues of democracy, development, and corruption drive everyday political concerns, and all three played a major role in the 2021 military coup. President Condé had sought and won a third term in 2020 despite the widespread support for a two-term limit. Since the coup, protesters calling for a return to democracy have been met with excessive police force. Guineans are also concerned about the state of development in their country, as the economic situation is poor, and the national budget allocates only 1.7 per cent to healthcare and seven per cent to primary and secondary education. Finally, corruption had been a growing concern in recent years, which further undermined confidence in the administration.

Over the next few years, it will be important to watch Representation and Rule of Law. As a result of the 2021 coup, the parliament and Guinea’s electoral democracy remain suspended. The coup and the potential transition have major regional implications, as economic development in West Africa has been increasingly threatened by rising insecurity. While ethnic politics are complicating the return to democracy, the military junta proposed in 2022 a three-year timetable for a transition back to democratic government and elections.

May 2023 | Protests against junta met with violence

During protests against the ruling military junta and the slow pace of transition to civilian rule in Guinea on 10 and 11 May, violent confrontations broke out between demonstrators and security forces. Protestors threw stones, erected barricades, and set fires in the street. The police response included shooting at the demonstrators. Local CSOs report that seven people were killed and another 32 were wounded by gunfire. They claim that a further 56 people were arrested. A police spokesperson has said that the number of deaths reported by CSOs was incorrect.

Protests Police violence

February 2023 | Two killed, dozens injured in violent protest against junta

On 15 February, a demonstration against the slow pace of a transition to civilian government in Guinea’s capital Conakry was met with violence. (In late 2022 the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and junta leaders agreed on a 24-month process that began in January 2023.) After demonstrators blockaded several roads and pelted police with stones, security forces responded with tear gas and gunfire. Two young men, aged 16 and 18, were killed by gunshots. Dozens of others were injured, and as many as 47 people were reported to have been arrested. The country is in the early stages of a transition to civilian government that is planned to last until January 2025. The military junta has banned all protests in the country from May 2022 until an electoral process begins.

Protests Police violence

October 2022 | Junta responds to ECOWAS pressure, revising the timeframe for transition

Following the September 2021 coup d’état in Guinea, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has taken several measures to encourage a swift transition to civilian rule. The junta, led by Col Mamadi Doumbouya, had decided on a 36-month transitional period. ECOWAS determined this to be too long, and in September 2022 announced a system of progressive sanctions. Following further negotiations with ECOWAS (and further protests on the streets in Conakry), the junta agreed in October to complete the transition in 24 months. However, the junta has proposed that this 24-month period will begin in January 2023.

Coup d'état ECOWAS Mamadi Doumbouya

September 2022 | Journalists suspended after interview with opposition leader

On 23 September, three radio journalists (and the program they present) were ordered to cease their work for a period of one month by the High Authority for Communication (HAC) in Guinea. They had broadcast a telephone interview with Sékou Koundouno, a representative of the opposition movement, National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC). During the call Koundouno had encouraged Guineans to “mobilize for a return to constitutional order.” The HAC characterized this an incitement to revolt. The three journalists involved in the call have been forbidden from reporting or speaking with local media until 22 October.

Censorship