Editor’s Note
This country profile reflects the political situation in Guinea as of early 2024, following the military takeover in September 2021. The nation remains under a transitional government led by a military junta.
Official Name: Republic of Guinea
Type of Regime: Military Junta
Head of State: Mr. Mamadi Doumbouya, President of the Transition (October 2021)
Head of Government: Mr. Bah Oury (February 2024)
Area: 245,857 km²
Capital: Conakry
Main Cities: Kindia, Kankan, Nzérékoré, Labé
Official Language: French
Common Languages: Fula, Malinké, Susu
Currency: Guinean Franc (floating rate)
National Holiday: October 2
Population: 14.4 million inhabitants (UN, 2023)
Density: 53.4 inhabitants/km²
Population Growth: 2.4% (UN, 2023)
Life Expectancy: 60.7 years (UN, 2023)
Religions: Islam (85%), Christianity (8%), Animism (7%)
Human Development Index: 182/193 (UNDP, 2022)
After eleven years of Alpha Condé’s rule (2010-2021), marked by accumulating socio-economic difficulties and ethnic and political tensions, the coup d’état of September 5, 2021, which brought Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya to power, was positively received by civil society and most Guinean political parties. The transitional authorities quickly sent positive signals regarding a swift return to constitutional order and their willingness to work in good understanding with their international partners. It is in this context that France and Guinea’s international partners (OIF, EU, United States) chose to support the Guinean transition, within the framework set by ECOWAS.
At the end of 2022, an agreement was reached between the transitional authorities and ECOWAS for a 24-month transition with a 10-step timetable, including a population census (based on a reform of the civil registry, in a country that has never truly had one), revision of the electoral roll, drafting of a draft constitution, and its adoption by referendum. Local, legislative, and then presidential elections were to be organized before the end of 2024. Despite the presentation of a draft constitution in August 2024, the transitional authorities have fallen significantly behind in implementing the agreed timetable with ECOWAS. However, the President of the Transition committed at the beginning of the year to holding elections in 2025 and hinted at his candidacy for the presidential election.
Mamadi Doumbouya’s Guinea is open to international partnerships, without exclusivity (the transition president described his approach as “uninhibited” at the UNGA in 2023). In the regional context, Mamadi Doumbouya is in contact with all its neighbors.
In Africa, Mamadi Doumbouya has traveled several times to Rwanda, where Paul Kagame would willingly play the role of mentor. The head of the transition has also multiplied trips outside Africa: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, China, etc.
While ECOWAS suspended Guinea from its bodies in September 2021, restrictions have gradually been lifted (end of restrictions on the travel of Transition leaders in December 2023, lifting of financial and economic sanctions in February 2024).
Similarly, Guinea was reinstated to the OIF – from which it had been suspended since September 2021 – on the eve of the Villers-Cotterêts Summit on October 4 and 5, 2024, where it was represented by its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Morissanda Kouyaté. This is the culmination of efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General of the OIF, Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo, who visited Conakry in January 2024 to encourage the authorities to implement the transition timetable established with ECOWAS.
GDP 2023: $23 billion (IMF)
GDP per capita (2023): $1,529 (IMF)
Growth Rate (2023): 5.7% (IMF)
Inflation Rate (2023): 7.8% (IMF)
Guinea has many natural assets: a maritime frontage, significant hydrological and agricultural potential, borders shared with 6 countries, and a subsoil very rich in minerals (bauxite: 1st global reserve with 25% of the stock and 2nd global producer, 4 billion tons of iron reserves, 700 tons of gold and 30 to 40 million carats of proven diamond reserves). However, its economy remains relatively undiversified and structurally vulnerable to exogenous shocks, particularly on commodities: (i) the contribution of the primary sector to GDP is relatively modest (29% of GDP in 2021), but this should increase thanks in particular to the valorization in 2022 of nearly 14 million hectares of arable land owned by the State; (ii) the secondary sector (31% of GDP) is dominated by mining activities which, with bauxite, gold, and diamond, represent 18% of the country’s GDP; finally, (iii) the tertiary sector (40% of GDP) is driven by commerce, transport, telecommunications, real estate, and business services. Strengthening agricultural activity has thus become one of the government’s priorities to reduce the country’s dependence on mining.