Guinea-Bissau

• tropical;
• generally hot and humid;
• monsoonal-type rainy season (June to November) with southwesterly winds;
• dry season (December to May) with northeasterly harmattan winds

lowest point:

Atlantic Ocean 0 m

highest point:

unnamed location in the northeast corner of the country 300 m

• deforestation;
• soil erosion;
• overgrazing;
• overfishing

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

0-14 years:

41.9% (male 284,150; female 285,370)

15-64 years:

55.2% (male 358,891; female 392,703)

65 years and over:

2.9% (male 17,285; female 22,428) (2003 est.)

at birth:

1.03 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.91 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.77 male(s)/female

total population:

0.94 male(s)/female (2003 est.)

noun:

Guinean(s)

adjective:

Guinean

conventional long form:

Republic of Guinea-Bissau

conventional short form:

Guinea-Bissau

local short form:

Guine-Bissau

local long form:

Republica da Guine-Bissau

former:

Portuguese Guinea

• 9 regions (regioes, singular - regiao);
• Bafata, Biombo, Bissau, Bolama, Cacheu, Gabu, Oio, Quinara, Tombali;
• note - Bolama may have been renamed Bolama/Bijagos

chief of state:

• President Henrique ROSA (interim; since 28 September 2003);
• note - a September 2003 coup overthrough the elected government of Kumba YALA;
• General Verissimo Correia SEABRA served as interim president from 14 to 28 September 2003

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
• election last held 28 November 1999 and 16 January 2000 (next to be held NA 2004);
• prime minister appointed by the president after consultation with party leaders in the legislature

note: a bloodless coup led to the dissolution of the elected government of Kumba YALA in September 2003; General Verissimo Correia SEABRA served as interim president from 14 September 2003 until stepping aside on 28 September 2003 with the establishment of a caretaker government

election results:

Kumba YALA elected president; percent of vote, second ballot - Kumba YALA (PRS) 72%, Malan Bacai SANHA (PAIGC) 28%

cabinet:

NA

head of government:

Prime Minister Artur SANHA (since 28 September 2003)

• unicameral National People's Assembly or Assembleia Nacional Popular (100 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve a maximum of four years);
• note - President YALA dissolved the National People's Assembly in November 2002, elections for a new legislature were scheduled to fall in February 2003 but were then postponed to April, then July, and were last scheduled to occur in September 2003

elections:

last held 28 November 1999 (next to be held NA September 2003)

election results:

percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PRS 37, RGB 27, PAIGC 25, 11 remaining seats went to 5 of the remaining 10 parties that fielded candidates

• Supreme Court or Supremo Tribunal da Justica (consists of nine justices who are appointed by the president and serve at his pleasure; final court of appeals in criminal and civil cases);
• Regional Courts (one in each of nine regions; first court of appeals for Sectoral Court decisions; hear all felony cases and civil cases valued at over $1,000);
• 24 Sectoral Courts (judges are not necessarily trained lawyers; they hear civil cases under $1,000 and misdemeanor criminal cases)

• African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde or PAIGC [Francisco BENANTE];
• Front for the Liberation and Independence of Guinea or FLING [Francois MENDY];
• Guinea-Bissau Resistance-Ba Fata Movement or RGB-MB [Helder Vaz LOPES];
• Guinean Civic Forum or FCG [Antonieta Rosa GOMES];
• International League for Ecological Protection or LIPE [Alhaje Bubacar DJALO, president];
• National Union for Democracy and Progress or UNDP [Abubacer BALDE, secretary general];
• Party for Democratic Convergence or PCD [Victor MANDINGA];
• Social Renovation Party or PRS [Kumba YALA];
• Union for Change or UM [Jorge MANDINGA, president, Dr. Anne SAAD, secretary general];
• United Social Democratic Party or PUSD [Victor Sau'de MARIA]

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Henrique Adriano DA SILVA

chancery:

1511 K Street NW, Suite 519, Washington, DC 20005

FAX:

[1] (202) 347-3954

telephone:

[1] (202) 347-3950

• the US Embassy suspended operations on 14 June 1998 in the midst of violent conflict between forces loyal to then President VIEIRA and military-led junta;
• for the time being, US embassy Dakar is responsible for covering Guinea-Bissau: telephone - [221] 823-4296;
• FAX - [221] 822-5903

• two equal horizontal bands of yellow (top) and green with a vertical red band on the hoist side;
• there is a black five-pointed star centered in the red band;
• uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia

lowest 10%:

0.5%

highest 10%:

42.4% (1991)

revenues:

$NA

expenditures:

$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

• rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton;
• timber;
• fish

• Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF);
• note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States;
• previously the Guinea-Bissau peso (GWP) was used

general assessment:

small system

domestic:

combination of microwave radio relay, open-wire lines, radiotelephone, and cellular communications

international:

NA

total:

4,400 km

paved:

453 km

unpaved:

3,947 km (1999 est.)