Guinea 2018

Yearbook 2018

Guinea. The year was marked by the local elections held in February and protests that followed. The elections were actually held in 2010, but have been postponed for various reasons for the future. According to Countryaah.com, Conakry is the capital city of Guinea, a country located in Western Africa. The elections themselves were surrounded by violent acts that killed at least twelve people, five of whom were young children killed by a fire bomb in the city of Kalinko. The opposition accused the ruling party of the Guinean People’s Party (RPG), with President Alpha Condé at the head, for electoral fraud and maintained that irregularities had been committed when it became clear that the RPG had obtained the majority of the seats in the country. The opposition, on the other hand, won in the capital Conakry.

• According to Abbreviationfinder: GIN is an three letter acronym for Guinea.

At the end of February, the union central organization UGTG announced a general strike in support of the opposition. Opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, who represents Guinea’s Democratic Forces (UFDG), accused the police of using excessive force in their efforts against, among other things, the roadblocks that were set up to stop traffic.

The protests continued in March when about a thousand women dressed in red and white marched along a highway in the capital in a manifestation against police violence, which reportedly had cost three young men their lives. After the death toll to 15 people, Diallo quit the strike in early April and began a dialogue with President Condé about possible measures to reduce tensions in society.

When the talks did not move in the desired direction, the opposition resumed its protests in mid-May. After Condé talked about the need for a government reform and ministers who “listened to the people”, Prime Minister Mamady Youla and his government resigned. Youla was replaced by Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, who was Finance Minister from 1997 to 2000. With a few exceptions, Fofana’s new government, especially on the heavy ministerial posts, consisted of the same people who had been part of Youla’s ministry.

Planned protests were suspended in mid-August after the UFDG and the government agreed that the opposition party should appoint 22 mayors and district leaders in certain special cities. Despite this, new demonstrations flared up in the fall.

In March, an agreement was signed to lead to an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Guinea was one of a total of 44 African countries that signed the agreement.