Guinea

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

mean elevation:

472 m

elevation extremes:

0 m lowest point: Atlantic Ocean; 1752 highest point: Mont Nimba

• deforestation;
• inadequate potable water;
• desertification;
• soil contamination and erosion;
• overfishing, overpopulation in forest region;
• poor mining practices lead to environmental damage;
• water pollution;
• improper waste disposal

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

noun:

Guinean(s)

adjective:

Guinean

0-14 years:

41.4% (male 2,473,486 /female 2,435,139)

15-24 years:

19.23% (male 1,145,488 /female 1,134,103)

25-54 years:

30.8% (male 1,827,246 /female 1,824,162)

55-64 years:

4.72% (male 269,995 /female 289,164)

65 years and over:

3.85% (male 203,754 /female 252,874) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

84.2 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

78.6 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

5.6 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

17.8 (2015 est.)

at birth:

1.03 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

0-14 years:

1.02 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

15-24 years:

1.02 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

25-54 years:

1.01 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

55-64 years:

0.92 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

65 years and over:

0.79 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

total population:

1 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

degree of risk:

very high (2016)

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever (2016)

vectorborne diseases:

malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever (2016)

water contact diseases:

schistosomiasis (2016)

animal contact diseases:

rabies (2016)

aerosolized dust or soil contact diseases:

Lassa fever (2016)

conventional long form:

Republic of Guinea

conventional short form:

Guinea

local long form:

Republique de Guinee

local short form:

Guinee

former:

French Guinea

etymology:

the country is named after the Guinea region of West Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea and stretches north to the Sahel

name:

Conakry

geographic coordinates:

9 30 N, 13 42 W

time difference:

UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

history:

previous 1958, 1990; latest promulgated 19 April 2010, approved 7 May 2010 (2017)

amendments:

• proposed by the National Assembly or by the president of the republic;
• consideration of proposals requires approval by simple majority vote by the Assembly;
• passage requires approval in referendum;
• the president can opt to submit amendments directly to the Assembly, in which case approval requires at least two-thirds majority vote (2017)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Guinea

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

na

highest courts:

• Supreme Court or Cour Supreme (organized into Administrative Chamber and Civil, Penal, and Social Chamber; court consists of the first president, 2 chamber presidents, at least 4 councillors, the solicitor general, and NA deputies);
• Constitutional Court (consists of 9 members)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court first president appointed by the national president after consultation with the National Assembly;
• other members appointed by presidential decree;
• members serve until age 65;
• Constitutional Court member appointments - 2 by the National Assembly and the president of the republic, 3 experienced judges designated by their peers, 1 experienced lawyer, 1 university professor with expertise in public law designated by peers, and 2 experienced representatives of the Independent National Institution of Human Rights;
• members serve single 9-year terms

subordinate courts:

• includes Court of Appeal or Cour d'Appel;
• courts of first instance or Tribunal de Premiere Instance;
• High Court of Justice or Cour d'Assises;
• labor court;
• military tribunal;
• justices of the peace;
• specialized courts

chief of state:

President Alpha CONDE (since 21 December 2010)

head of government:

Prime Minister Ibrahima FOFANA (since 22 May 2018)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the president

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 11 October 2015 (next to be held in 2020);
• prime minister appointed by the president

election results:

Alpha CONDE reelected president in the first round; percent of vote - Alpha CONDE (RPG) 57.8%, Cellou Dalein DIALLO (UFDG) 31.4%, other 10.8%

• Bloc Liberal or BL [Faya MILLIMONO]
• National Party for Hope and Development or PEDN [Lansana KOUYATE]
• Rally for the Guinean People or RPG [Alpha CONDE]
• Union for the Progress of Guinea or UPG
• Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea or UFDG [Cellou Dalein DIALLO]
• Union of Republican Forces or UFR [Sidya TOURE]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Kerfalla YANSANE (since 24 January 2018)

chancery:

2112 Leroy Place NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 986-4300

FAX:

[1] (202) 986-3800

chief of mission:

Ambassador Dennis B. HANKINS (since December 2015)

embassy:

Koloma, Conakry, across from Radio Television de Guinee

mailing address:

P.O. Box 603, Transversale No. 2, Centre Administratif de Koloma, Commune de Ratoma, Conakry

telephone:

[224] 655-10-40-00

FAX:

[224] 655-10-42-97

• three equal vertical bands of red (hoist side), yellow, and green;
• red represents the people's sacrifice for liberation and work;
• yellow stands for the sun, for the riches of the earth, and for justice;
• green symbolizes the country's vegetation and unity

note: uses the popular Pan-African colors of Ethiopia; the colors from left to right are the reverse of those on the flags of neighboring Mali and Senegal

name:

"Liberte" (Liberty)

lyrics/music:

unknown/Fodeba KEITA

note: adopted 1958

• rice, coffee, pineapples, mangoes, palm kernels, cocoa, cassava (manioc, tapioca), bananas, potatoes, sweet potatoes;
• cattle, sheep, goats;
• timber

agriculture:

76%

industry:

24% (2006 est.)

lowest 10%:

30.3% (2007)

highest 10%:

30.3% (2007)

general assessment:

• huge improvement over the last 10 years;
• the capital and the regional administrative centers have 3G access;
• in 2013 the set up of an IXP (Internet Exchange Point) will reduce cost of internet bandwith and improve infrastructure (2017)

domestic:

• there is national coverage and Conakry is reasonably well-served;
• coverage elsewhere remains inadequate but is improving;
• fixed-line teledensity less than 1 per 100 persons;
• mobile-cellular subscribership is expanding rapidly and now approaches 90 per 100 persons (2017)

international:

• country code - 224;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean);
• first international fibre optic submarine cable installed in 2012 (2017)

• government maintains marginal control over broadcast media;
• single state-run TV station;
• state-run radio broadcast station also operates several stations in rural areas;
• a steadily increasing number of privately owned radio stations, nearly all in Conakry, and about a dozen community radio stations;
• foreign TV programming available via satellite and cable subscription services (2011)

total:

1,086 km (2017)

standard gauge:

279 km 1.435-m gauge (2017)

narrow gauge:

807 km 1.000-m gauge (2017)

total:

44,348 km (2003)

paved:

4,342 km (2003)

unpaved:

40,006 km (2003)

total:

1 (2017)

by type:

other 1 (2017)

current situation:

• Guinea is a source, transit, and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• the majority of trafficking victims are Guinean children, and trafficking is more prevalent among Guineans than foreign national migrants;
• Guinean girls are subjected to domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation, while boys are forced to beg or to work as street vendors, shoe shiners, or miners;
• Guinea is a source country and transit point for West African children forced to work as miners in the region;
• Guinean women and girls are subjected to domestic servitude and sex trafficking in West Africa, the Middle East, the US, and increasingly Europe, while Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese women are forced into prostitution and some West Africans are forced into domestic servitude in Guinea

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List – Guinea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• in 2014, Guinea was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because its government has a written plan that, if implemented would constitute making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• no new investigations were conducted in 2014, and the one ongoing case led to the prosecution of four offenders for forced child labor, three of whom were convicted but given inadequate sentences for the crime;
• the government did not identify or provide protective services to victims and did not support NGOs that assisted victims but continued to refer child victims to NGOs on an ad hoc basis;
• Guinean law does not prohibit all forms of trafficking, excluding, for example, debt bondage;
• the 2014 Ebolavirus outbreak negatively affected Guinea’s ability to address human trafficking (2015)