Guinea - History
While it is difficult to say with a precise date when the first waves of population arrived in the different regions of the territory which is now known as the Republic of Guinea, most of the documents available and used by historians interested in the issue of migration of populations are the beginning of the occupation of the territory between V th and XVI th centuries. In fact, this period, like all these distant and poorly documented periods, is arbitrary and more likely to correspond to the period from which there are more or less reliable and usable documents (often from Arab sources) within scientific channels.
It is known, however, with certainty that the drying up of the Sahara and the fall of the empire of Ghana (1076) resulted in a great mobility of the African populations of the West. This mobility continued with the birth and disappearance of all empires and states in the region (Mali in the XIII th century, Songhai in the XV th century, Segou in the XVII th century, Fouta Djalon the XVIII th century, Macina in the XIX th century, etc.) that have succeeded in this vast space that ranges from desert to forest edge through savannah and mountainous areas of Fouta Djalon.
Guinea - Early History
The area occupied by Guinea today was included in several large West African political groupings, including the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires, at various times from the 10th to the 15th century, when the region came into contact with European commerce. Guineas colonial period began with French military penetration into the area in the mid-19th century. French domination was assured by the defeat in 1898 of the armies of Almamy Samory Touré, warlord and leader of Malinke descent, which gave France control of what today is Guinea and adjacent areas.
The region of West Africa constituting the present Republic of Guinea had been inhabited since well before the Christian Era. The earliest dwellers included the ancestors of some coastal and forest peoples of modem Guinea. The forebears of the present principal ethnic groups, the Malinké and Peul, came in considerable numbers, however, only after AD 1000. The origins of the Soussou, the third major group, were still uncertain in the mid-1970s.
The Malinké and the Peul both played major roles in the history of West Africa in an area far larger than the territory of the modern state. These two peoples attained a high degree of social development, and both created large, centralized political entities. In the case of the Malinké, political control was expanded into an extensive empire known as Mali, which at the peak of its power in the fourteenth century encompassed much of the western Sudan savanna, including the savanna region of the present republic. Guineans consider their country's entry into history to have begun with that empire. Much later, in the latter 1800s, the Malinké of Guinea helped forge another empire under the leadership of Samory Touré, now a national hero. This empire, however, was short-lived, being destroyed by the French during the 1890s.
The Peul became a major part of Guinean history only in the late seventeenth century after they conquered the Fouta Djallon, the mountain region that takes up most of Middle Guinea, and subsequently established there an independent theocratic Muslim state. That state maintained its independence until the end of the 1800s, when sovereignty in the Fouta Djallon passed into the hands of the French.
Guinea - French
The formation of Guinea as a distinct political entity was made without the participation of any of the peoples of the modem state in the decision. It stemmed from the European division of Africa during the great power scramble for territory of the late 1800s and, more immediately, from the carving up by the French of their West African conquests into administrative units of convenience. For over half a century thereafter the French governed Guinea, utilizing amenable indigenous chiefs (who became little more than French agents) to assist them. At the same time the French pursued a general policy of imparting French culture on the theory that at some date in the future the colony would merge with Metropolitan France into a single community.
World War II engendered new ideas and brought demands for greater particpation by the indigenous population in Guinean affairs. In 1946 a beginning of local representation was offered — to all French Black Africa — through membership in the newly established French Union. Thereby Guinea and the other French overseas territories became integral parts of the French Republic. World War II also brought a growth of political parties. Among these was the Democratic Party of Guinea (Parti Démocratique de Guinée—PDG), which evolved, under the leadership of Ahmed Sékou Touré from the early 1950s, into a mass organization having wide popular support.
In 1956 France made further concessions to its former colonies that implied the eventual granting of autonomy. In the following year elections in Guinea for a territorial assembly having new internal legislative powers placed de facto control in the hands of the PDG, which had a large majority in the assembly. Then, in 1958, France offered a new relationship to its overseas territories in the proposed French Community (Communauté Française), an association of the members of the French Republic in a federation of equals. Guinea's leaders, however, tended to favor a confederal setup, which would include a strong federated West African entity that could deal with Metropolitan France more effectively than its individual members. They also wished that the basic right to national independence be guaranteed.
Under a system of "direct administration", Guinea underwent sixty years of colonization, which ended only with the referendum of 28 September 1958, the result of which culminated in all the political and trade union struggles waged by the Guinean people against the colonial occupation, particularly since 1954. The French president, General Charles de Gaulle, refused to agree to a strong feleration. More important, he strongly implied that independence would mean total severance from the community. Faced by rejection of what were considered reasonable requests, the Guinean people, led by the PDG, voted for independence. Guinea thus acceded to international sovereignty, proclaiming its independence on 2 October 1958.France immediately dissociated Guinea from the community, and the former colonial territory began a new course as the Republic of Guinea.
Guinea - Independent
Sekou Touré, who became the first President, ruled as an autocrat and suppressed opposition, often on the pretext of defending the country against destabilisation by foreign powers. Cut off by France, Touré isolated Guinea from Western influence and allied himself with the Soviet bloc. Hundreds of thousands of Guineans went into exile. During the first republic (1958-1984), Guinea lived under a presidential system dominated by a single-party system of socialist inspiration, which governed the state and regulated the whole of economic, social and cultural life.
On the death of Sékou Touré in 1984, the military, without hesitation, took the vacant power. Touré was succeeded by Lasana Conté following a bloodless coup. The Military National Recovery Committee (CMRN) established the second republic, taking power on 3 April 1984. Conté's moves to initiate a more open style of government were welcomed by the population. However an attempted coup in July 1985 bought the regime's authoritarian instincts to the fore - thousands were arrested and dozens executed. Conté soon reverted to the oppressive methods of the Sekou Touré years.
During the transitional period (1984-1993), the new authorities carried out political, administrative, economic and financial reforms to translate into practice the liberal option and to lay the foundations for a democratic state that respects human rights and individual freedoms. Thus, in December 1990, the country adopted a Fundamental Law which establishes a presidential system and recognizes the separation of the three powers.
In 1991 public pressure forced the introduction of a new constitution providing for the introduction of multiparty politics. The new constitution also put a limit of 2 terms of 7 years on the Presidential tenure. The multiparty system was established with 47 accredited political parties. The country was also endowed with a Supreme Court and a National Communication Council in 1992, a National Assembly in 1995 and a Economic and Social Council in 1997. The first presidential election comprising several parties is organized In December 1993. It gave birth to the Third Republic, which opens up the consolidation of democratic achievements and the pursuit of economic and financial reforms with a view to creating a more favorable socio-economic environment for the rapid development of the country.
The presidential election by universal suffrage of 19 December 1993 was won by General Lansana Conté (50.9% of the vote), but these results were violently contested by the divided opposition parties. The slow political transformation was completed in 1995 with the parliamentary and municipal elections, but the political situation remains more than uncertain. The clashes between Malinkés, Soussous and Peuls resurface and a new attempt at a military coup in February 1996 shows that the situation is far from being appeased. With $ 540 per capita (1998), and despite its mineral wealth, the country remains extremely poor.
In June 1995, the first pluralistic parliamentary elections granted 71 seats to the president's party (the PUP) and 19 seats to the main opposition party, Alpha Condé. The participation rate is 62%. The National Assembly elects the Secretary General of the PUP.
On 2 and 3 February 1996, a mutiny that turned into a coup attempt, organized by the armed forces, on the occasion of wage claims, fails. However, power is destabilized. Moreover, the economic results do not keep their promises. The threats of the Bretton Woods institutions to withdraw push the President to appoint a Prime Minister, Sydia Touré. The post is created for him (the Constitution does not provide for this post). Former cabinet director of Alassane Ouattara, when he was Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire, Sydia Touré is presented as a liberal and experienced technocrat, who showed his ability to govern. Its mission is to redress the bloodless economy of the country. In December 1998, General Lansana Conté was re-elected for a five-year term. On 8 March 1999, The appointment of Prime Minister Lamine Sidimé, President of the Supreme Court, to replace Sidya Touré.
In November 2001 Conté put to referendum a change in the constitution to rescind the 2-term limit on presidential office. According to the official result 98.4% of voters endorsed the change, on the basis of a 87.2% turnout. The referendum of September 11, 2001 extended the presidential mandate (initially 5 years) to 7 years and abolished the limitation related to the age or the number of possible presidential mandates. Thus, General Lansana Conté was able to run again during the presidential elections of December 2003, which he won with 95% of the vote, the main opposition leaders having boycotted the poll.
On February 23, 2004, the President of the Republic surprised his world by taking a decree appointing François Lounceny Fall as prime minister. The same decree announced the dismissal of Prime Minister Lamine Sidimé, accompanied by a slight ministerial reshuffle. In a letter dated 24 April 2004, François Lounceny Fall presents his resignation from Paris.
Following President Conté’s death on 22 December 2008, a bloodless coup occurred with Capt Moussa Dadis Camara taking power. Dadis Camara was often illogical and suspected of substance abuse - he was widely regarded as a deranged and drug-addled. President Dadis Camara was shot and wounded 03 December 2009 by his personal security chief Diakite "Toumba," who later fled. General Sekouba Konate, Vice President and Minister of Defense, led the coalition that was in control of the government for a few months to organize elections. In December 2010, longtime opposition leader Alpha Conde, the candidate of the Rally of the Guinean People Party (RPG) was inaugurated as the country's first democratically elected president since independence from France in 1958.
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