Guinea - West Africa - page 460

Guinea was part of the Empire of Mali, which covered a large part of western Africa
between the 13th and 15th centuries; the empire's capital, Niani, is in eastern Guinea.
From the mid-1400s Portuguese and other European traders settled Guinea's coastal re-
gion, and the country eventually became a French colony in 1891.
The end of French West Africa began with Guinea. In 1958, Sekou Touré was the only
West African leader to reject a French offer of membership in a commonwealth, and in-
stead demanded total independence. French reaction was swift: financial and technical aid
was cut off, and there was a massive flight of capital.
Sekou Touré called his new form of state a 'communocracy', a blend of Africanist and
communist models. It didn't work; the economy went into a downward spiral, and his
growing paranoia triggered a reign of terror. 'Conspiracies' were being sensed every-
where; thousands of supposed dissidents were imprisoned and executed. By the end of the
1960s over 250,000 Guineans lived in exile.
Towards the end of his presidency Touré changed many of his policies and tried to lib-
eralise the economy. He died in March 1984.
Days after Touré's death, a military coup was staged by a group of colonels, including
the barely known, barely educated Lansana Conté, who became president. He introduced
austerity measures, and in 1991 bowed to pressure to introduce a multiparty political sys-
tem. Initial hopes for a new era of freedom and prosperity were quickly dashed. Conté
claimed victory in three highly disputed elections, and there were incidents of obstruction
and imprisonment of opposition leaders. In 2007 demonstrations were violently quashed,
though a few concessions (such as the nomination of a prime minister) were made.
Severely ill and barely able to govern, Conté stayed in power until his death in December
2008.
COUNTRY COVERAGE
At the time of research very few travellers were heading to Guinea, so we're providing historical and cultural in-
formation rather than reviews and listings. A good source of information for on-the-ground travel in Guinea is
Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree on-line travel forum www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree . Another source of good
internet-based information is www.ontguinee.org .
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