Guinea Location:
9°31'N, 13°42'W
Guinea, officially Republic of Guinea (French: République de Guinée), is a nation in West Africa, formerly known as French Guinea. Guinea's territory has a curved shape, with its base at the Atlantic ocean, inland to the east, and turning south. The base borders Guinea-Bissau and Senegal to the north, and Mali to the north and north-east; the inland part borders Côte d'Ivoire to the south-east, Liberia to the south, and Sierra Leone to the west of the southern tip. It encompasses the water source of the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia rivers. The name Guinea is used for the region of most of Africa's west coast south of the Sahara desert and north of the Gulf of Guinea. Guinea is sometimes called Guinea-Conakry per its capital, to differentiate it from the neighboring Guinea-Bissau (whose capital is Bissau).
Guinea Geography:
At 94,919 square miles (245,857 km2), Guinea is roughly the size of the United Kingdom and slightly smaller than the US states of Michigan or Oregon. There are 200 miles (320 km) of coastline. The total land border is 2,112 miles (3,399 km). The countries bordering Guinea include Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone. The country is divided into four main regions: the Basse-Cote lowlands in the east along the coast, populated mainly by the Susu ethnic group; the cooler, mountainous Fouta Djalon that run roughly north-south through the middle of the country, populated by Peuls, the Sahelian Haute-Guinea to the northeast, populated by Malinkes, and the forested jungle regions in the southeast, with several ethnic groups. Guinea's mountains are the source for the Niger, the Gambia, and Senegal Rivers, as well as the numerous rivers flowing to the sea on the west side of the range in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.
The highest point in Guinea is Mont Nimba at 5,748 feet (1,752 m). Although the Guinean and Ivorian sides of the Nimba Massif are a UNESCO Strict Nature Reserve, the portion of the so-called Guinean Backbone continues into Liberia, where it has been mined for decades; the damage is quite evident on Google Earth at 7.32.17N and 8.29.50W.
Guinea People:
Population
- July 2005 estimate 9,402,000 (83rd)
- 1996 census 7,156,406
- Density 38 /km2 (164th)
98 /sq mi
Guinea Government:
Government Republic
- President Lansana Conté
- Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté
Guinea Communication:
The railway which used to operate from Conakry to Bamako in Mali has been abandoned. As of 2006, all travel within the country is now by automobile. There is air service, but only internationally. Most vehicles in Guinea are some 20 years old, and cabs are mostly any 4-door vehicle which the owner has designated as for hire. Locals, nearly entirely without vehicles of their own, rely upon these taxis (which charge per seat) and small buses to take them around town and across the country. Horses and donkeys are also found pulling carts, though this is primarily used to transport construction materials.
Development of iron ore deposits at Simandou in the south east of the country in 2007 are likely to see the construction of a new heavy duty standard gauge railway and deepwater port.
Guinea Economy:
Guinea possesses major mineral, hydropower, and agricultural resources, yet remains an underdeveloped nation. The country possesses over 30% of the world's bauxite reserves and is the second-largest bauxite producer. The mining sector accounted for about 75% of exports in 1999.
Long-run improvements in government fiscal arrangements, literacy, and the legal framework are needed if the country is to move out of poverty. Fighting along the Sierra Leonean and Liberian borders, as well as refugee movements, have caused major economic disruptions, aggravating a loss in investor confidence. Foreign mining companies have reduced expatriate staff. Panic buying has created food shortages and inflation and caused riots in local markets.
Guinea is not receiving multilateral aid. The IMF and World Bank cut off most assistance in 2003. Growth rose slightly in 2004, primarily due to increases in global demand and commodity prices on world markets.
In September 2006, the government signed a production sharing contract (PSC) with an American micro-cap exploration company to explore for offshore petroleum resources. Further exploration of the virgin exploration acreage is in its very early planning stages. No exploration activity has been carried out since late 2003.
In November 2006, Transparency International, a German NGO ranked Guinea as the most perceived corrupt nation in Africa and one of the most corrupt countries in the world, ranking only before Myanmar, Iraq and Haiti. In an anticorruption conference in Guatemala, Guinean minister of justice Réné Alsény Gomez declared that Guinea has engaged in judicial actions against misuse of public funds. Former Central Bank governor Fodé Soumah has been indicted on charges of corruption on November 16, 2006. At the Guatemala conference, Transparency International president Huguette Labelle has applauded the measures.
Guinea More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea | 
