🇬🇳 Guinea

National Flag

Geography & Borders

Ivory CoastGuinea-BissauLiberiaMaliSenegalSierra Leone

Introduction & Background

Guinea (/ˈɡɪni/ⓘ GHIN-ee),a officially the Republic of Guinea (Template:Lang-fr), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Cote d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sierra Leone and Liberia to the south. It is sometimes referred to as Guinea-Conakry after its capital Conakry, to distinguish it from other territories in the eponymous region such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.891011 It has a population of 13.5 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres (94,926sqmi).12

Formerly French Guinea, it achieved independence in 1958.13 It has a history of military coups d'état.141516 After decades of authoritarian rule, in 2010 it held its first democratic election.161718 As it continued to hold multi-party elections, the country continued to face ethnic conflicts, corruption, and abuses by military and police.1819 In 2011, the United States government claimed that torture by security forces and abuse of women and children (including female genital mutilation) were ongoing human rights issues.20 In 2021, a military faction overthrew president Alpha Condé and suspended the constitution.141516