History of Guinea Timeline

Ahmed Sékou Touré's Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) won 56 of 60 seats in the 1957 territorial elections, positioning Touré to lead Guinea toward independence.

In 1958 the French Fourth Republic collapsed due to political instability and its failures in dealing with its colonies, especially Indochina and Algeria, leading to the founding of a Fifth Republic under Charles de Gaulle.

Image source: French Fourth Republic

President Charles de Gaulle made clear on 8 August 1958 that France's colonies faced a stark choice: more autonomy within a new French Community or immediate independence, decided in a referendum on 28 September 1958.

Image source: Charles de Gaulle

While other French colonies chose more autonomy, Guinea — under Sékou Touré's leadership — voted overwhelmingly for immediate independence in the referendum.

After the French withdrew quickly, destroying infrastructure along the way, Guinea proclaimed itself a sovereign and independent republic on October 2, 1958, with Sékou Touré as president.

Image source: History of Guinea

By 1960, President Sékou Touré had declared the PDG the only legal party, consolidating one-party rule in the new republic.

By 1963 Guinea had shifted away from Moscow into a closer friendship with Washington, adjusting its foreign policy alignment during the Cold War.

Image source: Foreign relations of Guinea

In November 1970, Portuguese forces from neighboring Portuguese Guinea staged Operation Green Sea, a raid into Guinea with support from exiled Guinean opposition forces.

Image source: Operation Green Sea

The Guinean Market Women's Revolt in 1977 resulted in the regime's softening of economic restrictions and began a turn away from the radical socialism previously practiced by the government.

Sékou Touré died on March 26, 1984, after a heart operation in the United States, and was replaced by Prime Minister Louis Lansana Beavogui as interim president pending elections.

Image source: Ahmed Sékou Touré

Just before the PDG was due to elect a new leader on April 3, 1984, Lansana Conté seized power in a military coup, beginning decades of military-influenced rule.

Image source: 1984 Guinean coup d'état

In 1992 Conté announced a return to civilian rule with presidential polls in 1993 and parliamentary elections in 1995, in which his Unity and Progress Party won 71 of 114 seats, though his grip on power remained tight.

Image source: Lansana Conté

In 2000 Guinea became embroiled in West African instability as rebels crossed the borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone, and for a time the country seemed headed for civil war.

In September 2001 opposition leader Alpha Condé was imprisoned for endangering state security, though he was pardoned eight months later.

Image source: Alpha Condé

In 2001 Conté organized and won a referendum to lengthen the presidential term, and in 2003 he began a third term after elections boycotted by the opposition.

In 2003 Guinea agreed plans with her neighbours to tackle the insurgents who had crossed its borders during the regional instability.

In January 2005, Lansana Conté survived a suspected assassination attempt while making a rare public appearance in the capital Conakry.

In 2007 there were big protests against the government, resulting in the appointment of a new prime minister.

Conté remained in power until his death on 22 December 2008, which was followed by a military coup that also dissolved the National Assembly.

On 28 September 2009, the junta ordered its soldiers to attack people gathered to protest Captain Moussa Dadis Camara's presumed candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections, killing many protesters.

Image source: 2009 Guinean protests

On 3 December 2009, an aide shot Camara during a dispute about the rampage of September 2009; he was flown from Morocco to Burkina Faso on 12 January 2010 for recovery.

Image source: Moussa Dadis Camara

On 21 January 2010 the military junta appointed Jean-Marie Doré as Prime Minister of a six-month transition government leading up to elections.

The presidential election was set for 27 June and 18 July 2010, billed as the first free and fair election since independence in 1958. Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Condé advanced from the first round; fraud allegations postponed the run-off, and on 16 November 2010 Alpha Condé was declared winner of the 7 November run-off.

Image source: 2010 Guinean presidential election

On the night of 18 July 2011, President Condé's residence was attacked in an attempted coup, which failed to dislodge him from power.

Image source: List of coups and coup attempts

The National Assembly had not met since its dissolution after the December 2008 coup. Elections postponed many times since 2007 and scheduled for 8 July 2012 were indefinitely postponed in April 2012 by Condé, citing the need for transparency.

In late February 2013, political violence erupted as protesters voiced concerns over the transparency of upcoming May elections; on 26 March the opposition backed out of negotiations with the government over the 12 May vote.

In February 2013, a plane carrying the head of the Guinean armed forces, General Kelefa Diallo, and nine other military officials crashed en route to Monrovia, Liberia.

Beginning in July 2014, Guinea suffered the most severe recorded outbreak of Ebola in history, which rapidly spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone. The epidemic was declared over by June 2016.

Image source: Western African Ebola epidemic

In October 2020, president Alpha Condé won presidential elections for a third term, justified by a March 2020 constitutional referendum despite a two-term limit.

On September 5, 2021, Alpha Condé was deposed by the military in a coup led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, ending his decade-long presidency.

Image source: 2021 Guinean coup d'état

On 1 October 2021, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who had led the previous month's coup, was sworn in as interim president of Guinea.

Image source: Mamady Doumbouya