The Gabonese Mixed Committee ( French : Comité mixte gabonais , CMG) was a political party in Gabon .
129-724: The CMG was established on 12 August 1946 by Léon M'ba , and was affiliated with the African Democratic Rally . In the 1952 Territorial Assembly elections it won two of the 24 elected seats. In August 1953 the CMG merged with the Gabonese Democratic Party to form the Gabonese Democratic Bloc . This article about an African political party is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Gabon -related article
258-602: A bloodless coup . Conté assumed the role of president, with Traoré serving as prime minister, until December. Conté denounced the previous regime's record on human rights, releasing 250 political prisoners and encouraging approximately 200 thousand more to return from exile. He made explicit the turn away from socialism. In 1992, Conté announced a return to civilian rule, with a presidential poll in 1993, followed by elections to parliament in 1995 (in which his party—the Party of Unity and Progress —won 71 of 114 seats). In September 2001,
387-458: A coup , declaring himself head of a military junta . Protests against the coup became violent, and 157 people were killed when, on 28 September 2009, the junta ordered its soldiers to attack people gathered to protest Camara's attempt to become president. The soldiers went on a rampage of rape, mutilation, and murder, which caused some foreign governments to withdraw their support for the new regime. On 3 December 2009, an aide shot Camara during
516-654: A military faction overthrew president Alpha Condé and suspended the constitution. Muslims represent 90% of the population. The country is divided into four geographic regions: Maritime Guinea on the Atlantic coast, the Fouta Djallon or Middle Guinea highlands, the Upper Guinea savanna region in the northeast, and the Guinée forestière region of tropical forests. French, the official language of Guinea,
645-581: A "constitutional" resolution of the situation. China (which relies on Guinea for half of its aluminium ore, facilitated by connections to ousted President Condé) openly opposed the coup. Guinea's armed forces are divided into 5 branches—army, navy, air force, the paramilitary National Gendarmerie and the Republican Guard—whose chiefs report to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who
774-666: A Third Party Congress to bring together all the members. The last party congress had been in 1949 and, despite calls for an open congress from the Communist wing of the RDA for years, it had been resisted by the party leadership. The main debate at the congress focused on the issue of federalism and the relationship with France for the future. Houphouët-Boigny, who saw the Congress as an opportunity to show off political power to his French guests (including Mitterrand) in attendance, argued that
903-651: A block of countries including the Ivory Coast, Niger, Upper Volta, and Dahomey which worked to maintain connections to France while becoming independent. French Sudan initially joined a brief federation with Senegal called the Mali Federation , bringing RDA leader Keïta and PRA leader Senghor together. However, this broke apart and the French Sudan (now the independent country called Mali ) instead joined an informal grouping with Ghana and Guinea called
1032-613: A civil war, over succession, followed the death of Askia Daoud in 1582. The empire fell to invaders from Morocco in 1591, but the kingdom later split into smaller kingdoms. After the fall of some of the West African empires, various kingdoms existed in what is now Guinea. Fulani Muslims migrated to Futa Jallon in Central Guinea, and established an Islamic state from 1727 to 1896 with a written constitution and alternate rulers. The Wassoulou or Wassulu Empire (1878–1898)
1161-536: A community linking the colonies with France but with increased autonomy. The vote, however, divided the RDA over the issues of independence and federalism and the party largely split. Despite the breakup of the party after the 1958 vote, the national parties and the connections established regionally through the party remained important. The RDA parties in Guinea and Mali , which were the dominant parties in those countries during and after independence, joined together with
1290-602: A dispute over the rampage in September. Camara went to Morocco for medical care. Vice-president (and defense minister) Sékouba Konaté flew from Lebanon to run the country. After meeting in Ouagadougou on 13 and 14 January 2010, Camara, Konaté and Blaise Compaoré , President of Burkina Faso , produced a formal statement of 12 principles promising a return of Guinea to civilian rule within 6 months. The presidential election of 27 June brought allegations of fraud, and
1419-530: A history of military coups d'état . After decades of authoritarian rule, it held its first democratic election in 2010. As it continued to hold multi-party elections, the country still faces ethnic conflicts, corruption, and abuses by the military and police. 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. In 2021,
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#17327732593491548-564: A long relationship between Pleven's party, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance ( French : Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance , UDSR), and particularly with the young politician François Mitterrand , and the RDA. Although Mitterrand tried to change French policy towards the RDA, the colonial administration was still focused primarily on removing the RDA from any power it had remaining. In preparation for
1677-457: A majority of the votes cast to be elected president. The president governs Guinea, assisted by a council of 25 civilian ministers , appointed by him. The government administers the country through 8 regions, 33 prefectures , over 100 subprefectures , and districts (known as communes in Conakry and other cities and villages, or quartiers in the interior). District-level leaders are elected;
1806-744: A month to organize for the French legislative elections in November 1946 , they were able to secure a number of seats by using the political organizations established by the various members. The National Assembly votes in France once again supported the three party center-left coalition of the MRP (29% of the vote), the PCF (28.6% of the vote) and the SFIO (16.5% of the vote). In French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa,
1935-580: A number of parties opposed the RDA and worked against the party. Party affiliations of the RDA (approximate dates) Bibliography Guinea Guinea ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ n i / GHIN -ee ), officially the Republic of Guinea ( French : République de Guinée ), is a coastal country in West Africa . It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to
2064-574: A part of their ruling governmental bodies. This introduced significant differences between the parties which had before been set aside and meant that the Communists saw decreasing power to offer their RDA allies. Second, the French divided the Upper Volta from the Ivory Coast in order to try and reduce the power of Houphouët-Boigny and the RDA. The plan appeared to work when in 1948, Zinda Kaboré
2193-495: A population of 1,675,069 ranks as a special zone. Guinea is a republic. The president is directly elected by the people and is the head of state and the head of government . The unicameral National Assembly is the legislative body of the country, and its members are directly elected by the people. The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court of Guinea [ fr ] , the highest and final court of appeal in
2322-403: A public appearance in Conakry. His opponents claimed that he was a "tired dictator", whose departure was inevitable, whereas his supporters believed that he was winning a battle with dissidents. According to Foreign Policy , Guinea was in danger of becoming a failed state . In 2000, Guinea suffered as rebels crossed the borders from Liberia and Sierra Leone . Some thought that the country
2451-595: A raid on Conakry by several hundred exiled Guinean opposition forces. Among their goals, the Portuguese military wanted to kill or capture Sekou Touré due to his support of PAIGC , an independence movement and rebel group that had carried out attacks inside Portuguese Guinea from their bases in Guinea. After some fighting, the Portuguese-backed forces retreated. Guinea was elected as a non-permanent member of
2580-505: A second election was held on 7 November. Voter turnout was "high", and the elections went "relatively smoothly". Alpha Condé , leader of the opposition party Rally of the Guinean People (RGP), won the election, promising to reform the security sector and review mining contracts. In February 2013, political violence erupted after street protests over the transparency of the upcoming May elections . The protests were fueled by
2709-454: A sovereign and independent republic, with Sékou Touré as president. Later, Opération Persil was planned by Jacques Foccart ; they planned to create large quantities of forged Guinean francs to hyperinflate Guinea's economy and to arm Touré's opposition figures. However, the operation was leaked, and soon, the Guinean was issuing a number of official complaints. In 1960, Touré declared
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#17327732593492838-462: A strong federation linking France with the colonies, while the PRA, led by Senghor, pushed for a looser confederation arrangement. In a meeting on 18 July 1958, the PRA and RDA agreed that the eventual arrangement must include the right to self-determination for the colonies. This resulted in a law which would give each colony the right to vote to join a newly organized French Community which would keep
2967-470: A threat to his colonial policies and thus instructed his allies not to attend and for colonial authorities to do what they could to hinder the meeting. Moutet convinced some of the signatories of the document to renounce the manifesto and persuaded Guèye, Senghor, and Diallo not to attend. In addition, the colonial authorities confiscated Tchicaya's funds for travel. The result was that the 800 delegates who did arrive included few socialist moderates and instead
3096-462: A very close vote. During the debate on this cabinet, Apithy presented Schuman with a number of questions regarding the future of the colonial arrangement. When Schuman gave the closing speech before a vote to confirm his cabinet, Apithy's questions were the only ones which he did not address at all. Apithy was infuriated by this perceived slight and so cast the whole seven votes of the IOM (including those of
3225-522: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . African Democratic Rally The Rassemblement Démocratique Africain , commonly known as the RDA and variously translated as African Democratic Assembly and African Democratic Rally , was a political party in French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa which was important in the decolonization of the French empire . The RDA
3354-464: Is a language of communication in schools, government administration, and the media. More than 24 indigenous languages are spoken, and the largest are Susu , Pular , and Maninka , which dominate respectively in Maritime Guinea, Fouta Djallon, and Upper Guinea, while Guinée forestière is ethnolinguistically diverse. Guinea's economy is mostly dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It
3483-420: Is believed that the first case was Emile Ouamouno, a 2-year-old boy in the village of Meliandou . He fell ill on 2 December 2013 and died on 6 December. On 18 September 2014, 8 members of an Ebola education health care team were murdered by villagers in the town of Womey . As of 1 November 2015, there had been 3,810 cases and 2,536 deaths in Guinea. Mass civil unrest and violent protests broke out against
3612-463: Is home to 5 ecoregions: Guinean montane forests , Western Guinean lowland forests , Guinean forest-savanna mosaic , West Sudanian savanna , and Guinean mangroves . It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.9/10, ranking it 114th globally out of 172 countries. The southern part of Guinea lies within the Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity hotspot , while
3741-684: Is illegal in Guinea. The prime minister declared in 2010 that he does not consider sexual orientation a legitimate human right. Guinea has one of the world's highest rates of female genital mutilation (FGM, sometimes referred to as 'female circumcision') according to Anastasia Gage, an associate professor at Tulane University , and Ronan van Rossem, an associate professor at Ghent University . Female genital mutilation in Guinea had been performed on more than 98% of women as of 2009 . In Guinea "almost all cultures, religions, and ethnicities" practice female genital mutilation. The 2005 Demographic and Health Survey reported that 96% of women have gone through
3870-489: Is one of the emerging regional producers of apples and pears. There are plantations of grapes, pomegranates, and more recent years have seen the development of strawberry plantations, based on the vertical hydroponic system. Guinea has 25% or more of the world's known bauxite reserves. It has diamonds, gold, and other metals. Bauxite and alumina are the most major exports. Guinea possesses over 25 billion tonnes (metric tons) of bauxite —and perhaps up to one half of
3999-523: Is roughly the size of the United Kingdom. There are 320 km (200 mi) of coastline and a total land border of 3,400 km (2,100 mi). It lies mostly between latitudes 7° and 13°N , and longitudes 7° and 15°W , with a smaller area that is west of 15°. Guinea is divided into 4 regions: Maritime Guinea , also known as Lower Guinea or the Basse-Coté lowlands, populated mainly by
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4128-804: Is subordinate to the Minister of Defence. In addition, regime security forces include the National Police Force (Sûreté Nationale). The Gendarmerie, responsible for internal security, has a strength of several thousand. The army, with about 15,000 personnel, is by far the largest branch of the armed forces and is mainly responsible for protecting the state borders, the security of administered territories, and defending Guinea's national interests. Air force personnel total about 700. Its equipment includes several Russian-supplied fighter planes and transports. The navy has about 900 personnel and operates several small patrol craft and barges. Homosexuality
4257-550: Is the world's second-largest producer of bauxite and has deposits of diamonds and gold. As of the most recent survey in 2018, 66.2% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty , and an additional 16.4% are vulnerable to it. The country was at the core of the Western African Ebola virus epidemic . Guinea is named after the Guinea region which lies along the Gulf of Guinea . It stretches north through
4386-579: The Loi Cadre which significantly reformed the relationship between France and the colonies by granting expanded power to Territorial Assemblies in each colony. Because the reform did not go far enough in expanding self-rule to the colonies, the African legislators largely opposed it. The Socialists were the only political faction to vote for the law and although Houphouët-Boigny was required to vote for it because of his ministerial post, he organized to have
4515-403: The 1951 French elections , RDA supporters were removed from voter rolls by French authorities, areas with high RDA support experienced a number of voting problems, and members were arrested and intimidated from political activity. All this resulted in a significant loss to the RDA throughout Africa and only Houphouët-Boigny, Konate, and Tchicaya were National Assembly members from the RDA following
4644-547: The Democratic Party of Guinea the country's only legal political party, and for the next 24 years, the government and PDG were one. Touré was re-elected unopposed to four 7-year terms as president, and every 5 years voters were presented with a single list of PDG candidates for the National Assembly. On 22 November 1970, Portuguese forces from neighbouring Portuguese Guinea staged Operation Green Sea ,
4773-604: The French Communist Party ( French : Parti Communiste Français or PCF), and the French Section of the Workers' International ( French : Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière or SFIO). This split meant that each party needed to court African deputies to the National Assembly in order to further their legislative causes. The SFIO was the only party with actual party branches established in
4902-556: The French Socialist Party with those affiliated with the French Communist Party together to work on reconfiguring the relationship between France and the African colonies. However, the French Socialist leaders in France saw the proposal as undermining their relationships and so forced their African members to withdraw from the conference. The result was that the resulting party was exclusively supported by
5031-831: The Malagasy Uprising in Madagascar and violence in the First Indochina War in Vietnam. Within the context of a realignment between France and the colonies, one of the elected deputies pushing most significantly for increased autonomy of the colonies was Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Ivory Coast colony. Houphouët-Boigny had spent a brief period as a delegate in the French National Assembly, where he had aligned most closely with
5160-687: The Mali Empire came when Soundiata Kéïta defeated the Sosso ruler Soumangourou Kanté at the Battle of Kirina in c. 1235 . The Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa (Emperors), including Kankou Moussa , who made a hajj to Mecca in 1324. After his reign, the Mali Empire began to decline and was ultimately supplanted by its vassal states in the 15th century. The Songhai Empire expanded its power in about 1460. It continued to prosper until
5289-630: The Susu ethnic group; the cooler, more mountainous Fouta Djallon that run roughly north–south through the middle of the country, populated by Fulas; the Sahelian Haute-Guinea to the northeast, populated by Malinké ; 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, and rivers flowing to
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5418-659: The UN Security Council 1972–73. In 1977, a declining economy and a ban on all private economic transactions led to the Market Women's Revolt , a series of anti-government riots started by women working in Conakry's Madina Market . Touré vacillated from supporting the Soviet Union to supporting the United States. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw some economic reforms. After the election of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as French president, trade increased and
5547-537: The Union of African States which pushed for pan-African alternatives to Senghor's socialism and the Conseil de l'Entente continued linkages with France. Although the name Rassemblement Démocratique Africain and identification with this regional grouping remained in many of the local parties, the RDA as a regional party would never form again after the vote of 1958. The following were parties which were directly members of
5676-501: The United Nations . According to a February 2009 U.S. Department of State statement, Guinea's foreign relations, including those with its West African neighbours, had improved steadily since 1985. The Department's October 2018 statement indicated that although "the U.S. condemned" Guinea's "2008 military coup d'etat," the U.S. had "close relations" with Guinea before the coup, and after "Guinea's presidential elections in 2010,
5805-647: The forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel . The English term Guinea comes directly from the Portuguese word Guiné which emerged in the mid-15th century to refer to the lands inhabited by the Guineus , a generic term for the black African peoples south of the Senegal River , in contrast to the "tawny" Zenaga Berbers above it, whom they called Azengues or Moors . In 1978, the official name became
5934-563: The presidential election of 2010, Guinea was governed by multiple autocratic rulers. What is now Guinea sat on the fringes of various West African empires. The earliest, the Ghana Empire , grew on trade and ultimately fell after repeated incursions of the Almoravids . It was in this period that Islam first arrived in the region by way of North African traders. The Sosso Empire came and stayed from 12th to 13th centuries; later,
6063-655: The 1957 Territorial Assembly elections, the RDA gained clear majorities in Guinea, Chad, the Ivory Coast, and, under the new leadership of Modibo Keïta, the French Sudan. Of the 474 seats up for election, 236 went to RDA politicians (49.79%), 62 went to the Socialists, 58 went to the African Convention, and the rest were split between national parties without regional influence in Mauritania and Dahomey. From this position of power, Houphouët-Boigny called for
6192-463: The 2021 coup, and some of Guinea's allies condemned the coup. The African Union and West Africa's regional bloc ( ECOWAS ) both threatened sanctions, while some analysts expect the threats to be of limited effect because Guinea is not a member of the West African currency union and is not a landlocked country. ECOWAS promptly suspended Guinea's membership and demanded the unconditional release of President Condé, while sending envoys to Conakry to attempt
6321-602: The African colonies earning nine seats in the French legislative elections of 1956 (from only having 3 in the period of 1951-1955). The IOM saw the largest losses going from having fourteen deputies to only seven. The remaining seats saw six deputies go to persons allied with the Gaullist Party , four deputies allied with the Socialist party, and two who affiliated with Catholic conservatives (Apithy and Barthélemy Boganda ). The RDA legislators were now more than half of
6450-432: The African colonies, while the Communist party had established Groupes d’Etudes Communistes (Communist Study Groups) in many of the capitals of the African colonies in 1943 and the MRP had various networks arranged by the church. Combined with the need for African deputies by the main French political parties, many African leaders believed that the pathway to improved conditions for the colonies lay largely in working with
6579-631: The African colonies. More globally, the issue of independence from colonial rule had become a prominent topic throughout Africa and Asia. Many British and UN Trusteeship colonies in Africa had begun the process towards independence in the mid-1940s. Ghana constantly served as an example giving rise to demands by political movements in French West Africa throughout the 1950s. During the same period, violent anti-colonial struggles reached significant levels in many other French colonies: including
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#17327732593496708-691: The Communist Party, a situation which shaped the early positions of the party and its political opportunities. The leader of the party from this first conference until the very end was Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Ivory Coast . Because of the withdrawal of the socialists from the party, the RDA was initially in a coalition with the French Communist Party in the French National Assembly . However, this coalition alienated many RDA delegates who eventually split with
6837-520: The Communist party (and particularly Aimé Césaire from Martinique) which relied significantly on their voting block. This bond was further strengthened when the coalition government named Popular Republican Movement politician Paul Coste-Floret as the Ministre de la France d'Outre-mer governing the colonies. Coste-Floret began an era of very rigid policy towards the colonies and particularly towards movements perceived to be pushing for independence. However, two changes served to exacerbate divisions within
6966-504: The Communists in France with d'Arboussier arguing that the alliance was necessary but a number of other members questioning the alliance. However the issue was not resolved at the second party congress. Unlike other parts of the French empire (notably Madagascar and Indochina), independence movements in French Africa had remained largely peaceful. This changed in 1949 when French authorities used divisions between Houphouët-Boigny and other politicians to begin active and violent suppression of
7095-402: The French Communist Party and had taken an active role in trying to get the recall of André-Jean-Gaston Latrille , the French governor of the Ivory Coast. Following the collapse of the National Assembly elected in July 1946 and wanting to establish a pan-African party in the National Assembly, Houphouët-Boigny convinced Lamine Guèye of Senegal (who was the most prominent socialist in Africa at
7224-476: The French Sudan, who had left the RDA right after the meeting, and Diallo from Guinea. Because the second college of the National Assembly was not directly elected, the Socialist party was able to use political strategies to secure 12 of the 20 seats from West and Equatorial Africa in the 1947 election (including making Moutet himself a representative from the French Sudan). When the RDA members arrived in Paris, they were provided significant support and advice from
7353-438: The French colonists in the colony, used this opportunity to foment general unrest between the RDA party and its opponents and then used the unrest to justify the arrest of RDA members and violent suppression of party activities. This pattern of partisan outbursts, French violence against RDA supporters at these incidents, and the mass arrests of RDA supporters continued throughout 1949 and into early 1950. Although an arrest warrant
7482-435: The French government rather than leading revolutionary movements. The result was a marriage of convenience linking the French political parties with newly elected African deputies. While the SFIO had the most institutionalized linkages to African political leaders prior to 1946, many leaders felt that the assimilation pathway which the SFIO had helped write into the constitution of the Fourth Republic did not provide enough for
7611-405: The French parties resulted in antagonism between their African allies. The rise of the IOM meant that the RDA no longer had party affiliates and any significant presence in Togo or French Dahomey, and weakened colony affiliates elsewhere. At the same time that the IOM was increasing in strength, the Socialist party in Senegal saw a split between Guèye and Senghor with the later creating a new party,
7740-406: The French state. Second, it settled a dispute in Niger with multiple parties claiming to be the RDA affiliate: supporting Hamani Diori 's party over that of Djibo Bakary . The party building activities set the RDA up to perform well in the upcoming election. Without the active suppression of earlier elections and the end of the temporary IOM-RDA rapprochement, the RDA became the largest party from
7869-443: The IOM), Upper Volta, Cameroon, and Ubangi-Shari while the RDA would be the representative of the alliance in French Sudan, Ivory Coast, Chad, and the Middle Congo. As both had a member of the National Assembly from Niger, the agreement was to keep that colony split. After this rapprochement between the two parties, the RDA broke with the Communist party and in December 1950 voted for the government of René Pleven . This would begin
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#17327732593497998-401: The Ivory Coast, as the wealthiest colony in French West Africa, opposed the proposal from Keïta that the colonies should become independent together as an African federation. Mortimer claims that the key person holding the party together and working towards a compromise had been Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly who died suddenly on 7 September, thus sealing the fate of the party. The result was that
8127-425: The National Assembly stopped going to sessions because they were largely ignored, following the French Army shooting in Dimbokro, Senghor led much of the African membership to demand an inquiry into the incident. The French government secretly informed RDA politicians in March that it had no intentions of implementing the 1 February decree banning all activities by the RDA and gradually the tension relaxed. Following
8256-407: The National Assembly, disappeared in the Ivory Coast. Upset by this event, the RDA held a protest in Dimbokro which resulted in a French army shooting of 13 Ivorian civilians. The next day (February 1), the French declared all RDA meetings illegal throughout all of French West Africa. The end result of the year of violence was over 50 dead and 3000 RDA partisans imprisoned. Although RDA members of
8385-456: The People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea. In 1984, the country was renamed the Republic of Guinea after the death of the first president, Ahmed Sékou Touré. The land that is now Guinea either bordered or was situated within a series of historic African empires before the French arrived in the 1890s and claimed the terrain as part of colonial French West Africa . Guinea declared independence from France on 2 October 1958. From independence until
8514-414: The RDA and formed the rival Indépendants d'Outre-Mer (IOM) party. Continued French hostility to the RDA, a weakening of the Communist Party in France, and the defection of delegates to the IOM, resulted in the RDA ending its coalition with the communists and joining the small Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR). Following a number of years of electoral defeats and French repression of
8643-429: The RDA in the colony. The catalyst for the chaos was the removal of Étienne Djaument by Houphouët-Boigny from the RDA in early 1949. Djaument responded by forming a rival party, the Bloc Démocratique Eburnén. At the first meeting of this rival congress, supporters of Houphouët-Boigny responded with protests or rioting and in the resulting clash one person was killed and a number were injured. The French authorities, and
8772-432: The RDA vote against the legislation. Despite this opposition, the legislation passed and Territorial Assembly elections were held in March 1957. For these elections, the IOM had reformed itself into the African Convention ( French : Convention Africaine ), in order to try to have a larger domestic base. The only other regional party of significance for these elections was a newly focused set of Socialist politicians. In
8901-691: The RDA was able to win 10 seats for the National Assembly: with members being Houphouët-Boigny, Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly , and Zinda Kaboré from the Ivory Coast (which included the Upper Volta at this point), Apithy represented Dahomey (present-day Benin ), Tchicaya represented the Middle Congo (present-day Republic of the Congo ), Konate represented French Sudan, Hamani Diori represented Niger, Gabriel Lisette represented Chad, Martin Aku from Togo, and Mamba Sano from Guinea. The Socialists won six seats with continued support in Senegal (where Guèye and Senghor were both elected to positions) and from other longtime supporters like Sissoko and an associate from
9030-419: The RDA, as a regional party, essentially ended with the independence vote in 1958. Guinea was the only country to vote for independence, incurring the immediate wrath of DeGaulle and Houphouët-Boigny who cut off aid to the colony and the French removed all personnel and equipment that was in the colony. Ivory Coast voted for the French Community and Houphouët-Boigny became a leader of the Conseil de l'Entente ,
9159-401: The RDA, the Socialist block, and MRP politicians. However, the IOM also saw a change in leadership as Apithy was replaced with Louis-Paul Aujoulat as a result of dissatisfaction by the Upper Volta members who wanted their votes cast to support the MRP government of Schuman. These changes brought the IOM closer to the MRP while the RDA remained tied to the Communist party. The antagonisms between
9288-552: The RDA. His importance to the RDA's wider objectives was so large that he was named the head of the RDA coalition in the National Assembly in 1953. In the 1955 meeting of the Coordinating Council the party similarly consolidated around the new party identity. First, they decided that Ruben Um Nyobé 's Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) was no longer affiliated with the RDA because of its radical positions against
9417-537: The Senegalese Democratic Bloc ( French : Bloc Démocratique Sénégalais , BDS), which he aligned with the IOM movement. This split made the alignment of parties in the National Assembly much more complex and allowed options for new groupings between the different factions. By 1948, the RDA had active parties as a primary faction in six of the colonies of French Africa: Ivory Coast, Middle Congo, Ubangi-Shari , Chad, Guinea, and in French Sudan. At
9546-502: The Socialists. By mid-1958, French Africa along the Atlantic had developed largely a two-party system. With the dissolution of the French Fourth Republic , the RDA became a key party shaping the colonial relationship that would exist in the next French state. DeGaulle appointed Houphouët-Boigny to assist in developing the specific laws for the new constitution which would govern the colonies. Houphouët-Boigny pushed for
9675-442: The United States re-established strong diplomatic relations with the government." The statement indicated support for the "legislative elections in 2013 and a second presidential election in 2015" as signs of "democratic reform." A March 2021 report by the U.S. Department of State blasted extensive human rights violations by the government, security forces and businesses in Guinea. The report cited extensive international criticism of
9804-512: The armies of Samori Touré , Mansa (or Emperor) of the Ouassoulou state and leader of Malinké descent, in 1898 gave France control of what today is Guinea and adjacent areas. France negotiated Guinea's present boundaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the British for Sierra Leone , the Portuguese for their Guinea colony (now Guinea-Bissau ), and Liberia . Under the French,
9933-600: The civil administration with its military counterpart. The United Nations , European Union , African Union , ECOWAS (which suspended Guinea's membership), and La Francophonie denounced the coup, and called for President Condé's unconditional release. Similar responses came from some neighboring and Western countries (including the United States ), and from China (which relies on Guinea for half of its aluminum ore, facilitated by its connections to President Condé). Despite these, on 1 October 2021, Mamady Doumbouya
10062-526: The colonies linked to France but also provide some degree of self-rule, or to declare independence immediately. The RDA was divided on this position. The leaders with the most linkages to the trade-unions, mainly Touré in Guinea, generally believed that it was best for the French colonies to declare independence immediately. Houphouët-Boigny and others, instead, pushed for joining the French Community and remaining very close with France. In addition,
10191-459: The colonies should enter into a federal relationship with France remaining the center of political life. Touré and Keïta, the younger RDA leaders, in contrast pushed for an independent African federation. The situation led to many embarrassing political votes for Houphouët-Boigny and eventually the adoption of a compromise position that the party would commit itself to working for democratization of any federal arrangements which existed. When many of
10320-415: The colonies the choice of autonomy in a new French Community or immediate independence in the referendum of 28 September 1958. Guinea voted overwhelmingly for independence. It was led by Ahmed Sékou Touré , whose Democratic Party of Guinea-African Democratic Rally (PDG) had won 56 of 60 seats in the 1957 territorial elections. The French later withdrew, and on 2 October 1958, Guinea proclaimed itself
10449-487: The colonies, many of the national parties retained the RDA in their name and some continue to do so. The political ideology of the party did not endorse outright secession of colonies from France, but it was anti-colonial and pan-Africanist in its political stances. The RDA was formed at a conference in Bamako , in the colony of French Sudan , in 1946. The aim of the conference was to unite African leaders affiliated with
10578-510: The country formed the Territory of Guinea within French West Africa , administered by a governor general resident in Dakar . Lieutenant governors administered the individual colonies, including Guinea. In 1958, the French Fourth Republic collapsed due to political instability and its failures in dealing with its colonies, especially Indochina and Algeria . The French Fifth Republic gave
10707-410: The country in the following weeks. Existing civil and economic unrest in the country temporarily worsened as a result, with several confrontations between protestors and police in Conakry, increased fuel and travel costs, and general price inflation throughout the country. Guinea shares a border with Guinea-Bissau to the northwest , Senegal to the north , Mali to the northeast , Ivory Coast to
10836-468: The country. The National Assembly of Guinea , the country's legislative body, did not meet from 2008 to 2013, when it was dissolved after the military coup in December. Elections have been postponed multiple times since 2007. In April 2012, President Condé postponed the elections indefinitely, citing the need to ensure that they were "transparent and democratic". The 2013 Guinean legislative election
10965-679: The east , Sierra Leone to the southwest and Liberia to the south . The nation forms a crescent as it curves from its southeast region to the north and west, to its northwest border with Guinea-Bissau and southwestern coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The sources of the Niger River , the Gambia River , and the Senegal River are all found in the Guinea Highlands . At 245,857 km (94,926 sq mi), Guinea
11094-520: The election. In the same election, the IOM gained most consistently becoming the largest political party in Africa. Although electoral results showed significant support of the IOM over the RDA, the IOM remained largely a legislative coalition in Paris with limited support as a regional party in Africa. The RDA, in contrast, continued its efforts to build broad political bases and build the national RDA parties throughout Africa. The result of these efforts
11223-422: The end to the chaos in the Ivory Coast, Houphouët-Boigny began to see the alliance with the Communist party in France as counterproductive to his larger goals. He began meetings simultaneously with both the IOM legislators and the radical wing of the RDA, led by d'Arboussier who he convinced to resign his position in the party. On 9 August 1950, the RDA and the IOM entered into a secret accord aiming to bring together
11352-476: The former British colony of Ghana to form the Union of African States . In contrast, the Ivory Coast , Niger and Dahomey were joined together with the Conseil de l'Entente in the era after independence. With the end of World War II, the French colonial empire set about a significant reorganization of the relationship between France and the colonies. Before the establishment of the French Fourth Republic ,
11481-511: The issue many times and when his efforts to end the coalition failed, he formed a new regional political party in September 1948, the Indépendants d'Outre-Mer (IOM). The IOM included Apithy, the three new members from the Upper Volta, and three other members from throughout West and Equatorial Africa. The formation of the IOM coincided precisely with the naming of a new Prime Minister, Robert Schuman , to present his cabinet in what would be
11610-411: The leaders assembled led him to agree to open the meeting at 4:00 PM (although he insisted on calling it "your congress" and not "our congress" throughout his opening speech). The conference agreed to a few different issues. First, they agreed to form a regional political alliance among many of their different movements. Rather than a regional party which would have a significant regional infrastructure,
11739-401: The leaders who signed this manifesto were: Jean-Félix Tchicaya from French Congo , Sourou-Migan Apithy from French Dahomey , Fily Dabo Sissoko from French Sudan , Yacine Diallo from Guinea , and Gabriel d'Arboussier from Senegal. Although he did not sign it at the time of its composition, Léopold Sédar Senghor from Senegal openly endorsed the contents of the letter. The congress
11868-442: The meeting) as vice-chairmen. Second, as the parties' main activity would be in the National Assembly, there were active discussions about what coalitions to form with French political parties. The debate largely focused on whether to form a permanent coalition with the Communist party or to align with them while they served RDA interests. The group agreed to compromise language that the party would form coalitions with whichever party
11997-413: The members viewed it as an alliance of the different political forces operating in each of the colonies. Thus they created a Committee of Coordination to be tasked with selecting which party in each colony would be the representative of the RDA party and named Houphouët-Boigny as chairman and Sissoko, Apithy, Tchicaya, d'Arboussier, and Mamadou Konate (the key Malian politician who convinced Sissoko to join
12126-455: The membership of the RDA. First, in May 1947 the coalition between the MRP, the SFIO, and the Communists had dissolved. It is important to note that this dissolution coincides with American financing of Europe, including France, in the post-World War II period. The United States warned European nations that they would not receive financial support to reconstruct their nations if communist parties were
12255-501: The morning of 18 October at the airport in Bamako (in a plane which was formerly the private plane of Hermann Göring and was provided by the communist party) they were greeted by a hostile Sissoko, worried the party would give support to other French Sudanese political leaders and weaken his leadership. Sissoko, as the host of the conference, refused to open up the discussion. Eventually pressure from within his own political party and from
12384-512: The north-east is characterized by dry savanna woodlands. Declining populations of some animals are restricted to uninhabited distant parts of parks and reserves. Species found in Guinea include the following: The Republic of Guinea covers 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi) of West Africa, about 10 degrees north of the equator. It is divided into 4 natural regions: Guinea is divided into 8 administrative regions which are subdivided into 33 prefectures . The capital Conakry with
12513-523: The northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte 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 . Guinea has a population of 14 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi). Formerly French Guinea , it achieved independence in 1958. Guinea has
12642-467: The only colony in French West Africa or French Equatorial Africa with any elections for political authorities was Senegal . The rest of the colonies had few Africans who were considered citizens of France, no elections, and suppression of most political movements. With the establishment of the French Union ( French : Union française ) in 1946 all of the colonies of French Africa (except for
12771-423: The operation. As of the most recent survey in 2018, 66.2% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty and an additional 16.4% vulnerable to it. The agriculture sector at some point employed approximately 75% of the country. The rice is cultivated in the flooded zones between streams and rivers. The local production of rice is not sufficient to feed the country, so rice is imported from Asia. Guinea
12900-510: The opposition coalition's decision to step down from the elections in protest of the lack of transparency in the preparations for elections. Nine people were killed during the protests, and around 220 were injured. Some deaths and injuries were caused by security forces using live ammunition on protesters. The violence led to ethnic clashes between the Malinke and Fula , who supported and opposed President Condé, respectively. On 26 March 2013,
13029-404: The opposition leader Alpha Condé was imprisoned for endangering state security and pardoned 8 months later. Subsequently, he spent time in exile in France. In 2001, Conté organized and won a referendum to lengthen the presidential term, and in 2003, began his third term after elections were boycotted by the opposition. In January 2005, Conté survived a suspected assassination attempt while making
13158-514: The opposition party backed out of negotiations with the government over the election, saying that the government had not respected them, and had broken all agreements. On 25 March 2014, the World Health Organization stated that Guinea's Ministry of Health had reported an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Guinea. This initial outbreak had 86 cases, including 59 deaths. By 28 May, there were 281 cases, with 186 deaths. It
13287-535: The other parties in West and Equatorial Africa proposed another attempt at rapprochement between the parties, the RDA responded with little enthusiasm. This eventually led to the creation of the African Regroupment Party ( French : Parti du Regroupement Africain , PRA) which would serve as a rival to the RDA between the various other parties: including bringing together the African Convention and
13416-561: The party, the RDA returned to prominence in regional politics by performing very well in the 1956 and 1957 elections throughout the colonies. The RDA became the largest political party in French Africa and the largest group in the UDSR which allowed Houphouët-Boigny to become a prominent French minister after the 1956 elections. As minister, Houphouët-Boigny crafted the 1958 option to the colonies to vote for immediate independence or to join
13545-708: The president appoints officials to all other levels of the centralized administration. Former President Alpha Condé derived support from Guinea's second-largest ethnic group, the Malinke . Guinea's opposition was backed by the Fula ethnic group, who account for around 33.4% of the population. Guinea is a member of the African Union , Agency for the French-Speaking Community , African Development Bank , Economic Community of West African States , World Bank , Islamic Development Bank , IMF , and
13674-430: The presidential palace, Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized control of state television and declared that President Alpha Conde 's government had been dissolved and the nation's borders closed. By the evening, the putschists had declared control of all of Conakry and the country's armed forces. According to Guinée Matin , by 6 September, the military fully controlled the state administration and started to replace
13803-400: The recent national elections, which yielded "President Alpha Conde's re-election (despite disputed results) [...] following a controversial March referendum amending the constitution and allowing him to run for a third term." The department condemned the 2021 coup. The U.S. called for "national dialogue to address concerns sustainably and transparently". The United Nations promptly denounced
13932-566: The regional RDA at some point. Some of the parties directly integrated RDA into their names, and these names remained even after the regional coalition ended. The RDA maintained ties with a number of parties in France and in West Africa. Brief rapprochements with African parties never formed into solid coalitions, but the relationships with some French political parties lasted for many years. These included formal coalitions, brief partnerships, and loose affiliations. In addition,
14061-418: The rule of Alpha Conde on 14 October 2019, against constitutional changes. More than 800 were killed in clashes. After the 2020 Guinean presidential election , Alpha Condé's election to a third term was challenged by the opposition, who accused him of fraud. Condé claimed a constitutional referendum from March 2020 allowed him to run despite the 2-term limit. On 5 September 2021, after hours of gunfire near
14190-649: The same time, it was actively suppressed in Upper Volta and French Sudan by the opposition parties. In response to these shifting political environments, the RDA held its second party congress in January 1949 in Treichville , Ivory Coast. The congress appointed Houphouët-Boigny as the President of the party and named d'Arboussier as the General Secretary. The main issue for debate was the alliance with
14319-711: The sea on the west side of the range in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. The highest point in Guinea is Mount Nimba at 1,752 m (5,748 ft). While 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 evident in the Nzérékoré Region at 7°32′17″N 8°29′50″W / 7.53806°N 8.49722°W / 7.53806; -8.49722 . Guinea
14448-413: The three absent Upper Volta members) against the cabinet. Schuman lost by six votes and was replaced by Radical Party politician Henri Queuille . Queille made a point of meeting with Apithy before the presentation of his cabinet and answered all of his questions in his first speech to the National Assembly. In 1948, the IOM increased its membership in the French National Assembly by adding members from
14577-414: The time) to work towards establishing a wider political movement with the goal of autonomy for the colonies of Africa. These two leaders then brought together many of the other African delegates in the National Assembly to sign a manifesto calling for all leaders to come to Bamako (today the capital of Mali ) for a meeting to establish a regional political party. In addition to Houphouët-Boigny and Guèye,
14706-477: The total membership of the UDSR party, which actually resulted in the party changing its name to the UDSR-RDA during this period. Because of this, when the IOM tried once again to form an alliance with the RDA, they were rebuffed because the RDA had a solid alliance with significant power and the IOM wanted to remain with the MRP. In addition, because of the important role of the RDA within the UDSR, Houphouët-Boigny
14835-665: The trusteeship of Togo ) became overseas departments which would provide to the colonies expanded citizenship, the right to elect members to the French National Assembly , and some limited autonomy for local councils. The 1946 French elections in June largely split the legislature between a coalition of the Popular Republican Movement ( French : Mouvement Républicain Populaire or MRP)
14964-476: The two countries exchanged diplomatic visits. Sékou Touré died on 26 March 1984 after a heart operation in the United States, and was replaced by Prime Minister Louis Lansana Beavogui , who was to serve as interim president, pending new elections. PDG was due to elect a new leader on 3 April 1984. Under the constitution, that person would have been the only candidate for president. Hours before that meeting, Colonels Lansana Conté and Diarra Traoré seized power in
15093-421: The two groups in the French National Assembly, based primarily on the RDA ending their coalition with the Communist party. In domestic politics in the colonies, it was decided that the IOM and the RDA would largely retain power in the colonies which they controlled and thus prevent political conflict. The IOM was to be the main political party of the union in Guinea, Dahomey, Togo, Senegal (as Senghor had now joined
15222-415: Was able to become a Minister within the French cabinet, the first representative from French West Africa or French Equatorial Africa to achieve this. Further empowering the RDA during this time was a shift in the French colonial administration not wanting to see additional colonial violence like had been experienced in Madagascar, Indochina, and Algeria. During this time, the French political parties passed
15351-409: Was composed of different political parties throughout the French colonies in Africa and lasted from 1946 until 1958. At certain points, the RDA was the largest political party in the colonies in Africa and played a key role in the French government headed by the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR). Although the regional party largely dissolved in 1958 with the independence votes for
15480-454: Was dominated by those who sought to align the party with the communists. Reflecting on the way this shaped the party, Houphouët-Boigny recalled in 1952 that "If Lamine and Senghor had been at Bamako, we would have written another page of history." The conference also got off to a rocky start as a result of the different factions in the French Sudan colony which was hosting the conference. When Houphouët-Boigny, Apithy, and d'Arboussier arrived on
15609-439: Was headed towards a civil war. Conté blamed neighbouring leaders for coveting Guinea's natural resources, and these claims were denied. In 2003, Guinea agreed to plans with her neighbours to tackle the insurgents. The 2007 Guinean general strike resulted in the appointment of a new prime minister. Conté remained in power until his death on 23 December 2008. Several hours after his death, Moussa Dadis Camara seized control in
15738-472: Was held from 18 to 21 October 1946. However, the start of the conference was undermined as a result of French Socialist opposition and conflict between some of the members. The Communist party offered full support to the meeting, which only led the other parties to approach the meeting with suspicion. Most importantly the Socialist Minister of colonial affairs, Marius Moutet , viewed the meeting as
15867-601: Was held on 24 September. President Alpha Condé 's party, the Rally of the Guinean People (RPG), won a plurality of seats in the National Assembly of Guinea , with 53 out of 114 seats. Cellou Dalein Diallo 's UFDG party won 37 seats, and opposition leaders denounced the official results as fraudulent. The president of Guinea is normally elected by popular vote for a 5-year term; the winning candidate must receive
15996-401: Was issued for Houphouët-Boigny, he was able to use immunity as a member of the National Assembly to avoid arrest. In December 1949, the RDA and its supporters began a general strike involving many different groups of workers, a boycott of European goods sold in the country, and a hunger strike in the prisons. The tension came to a head on 28 January 1950 when Victor Biaka Boda , an RDA member of
16125-461: Was killed and the Mossi chiefs in Upper Volta, who had renounced the RDA and connected with the MRP, were able to appoint Nazi Boni to fill the position. These two factors combined to make many of the National Assembly delegates, particularly those with large Catholic constituencies in their colonies, feel uneasy about the coalition with the Communist party. Apithy, from Dahomey, in particular raised
16254-411: Was led by Samori Toure in the predominantly Malinké area of what is now upper Guinea and southwestern Mali (Wassoulou). It moved to Ivory Coast before being conquered by the French. European traders competed for the cape trade from the 17th century onward and made inroads earlier. Guinea's colonial period began with French military penetration into the area in the mid-19th century. The defeat of
16383-436: Was most useful for African issues. Third, although it was briefly mentioned, the conference agreed not to call for complete independence of the colonies, but instead for an end to the unequal colonial relationship with France. Although the party was to be anti-colonial and focus on increased autonomy for the French colonies, they were not advocating secession or withdrawal from France as an immediate goal. Although they only had
16512-454: Was sworn in as interim president. On 11 May 2023, at least 7 people were shot dead in anti-government demonstrations in cities across Guinea. The anti-government movement became involved in peaceful protests and called on rulers to end military rule in Guinea and transition the country to democracy. On 18 December 2023, an explosion occurred at the country's main oil depot in Conakry, killing 24 people and causing extensive fuel shortages in
16641-480: Was that the RDA saw increasing power from 1951 until 1955. This was most punctuated with the rise in Guinea of Sékou Touré to political prominence as the head of the Democratic Party of Guinea French : Parti Démocratique de Guinée . As a union organizer, Touré had significant ties with the Communists throughout French West Africa and thus connected quickly with the Communist-affiliated members of
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