Guinea-Bissau

Map of Guinea-Bissau Republic of Guinea-Bissau President: Malam Bacai Sanhá (2009) Prime Minister: Carlos Gomes Júnior (2008) Land area: 10,811 sq mi (28,000 sq km); total area: 13,946 sq mi (36,120 sq km) Population (2009 est.): 1,533,964 (growth rate: 2.0%); birth rate: 35.9/1000; infant mortality rate: 99.8/1000; life expectancy: 47.9; density per sq km: 53 Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Bissau, 296,900 Monetary unit: CFA Franc National name: Républica da Guiné-Bissau Current government officials Languages: Portuguese (official), Criolo, African languages Ethnicity/race: African 99% (Balanta 30%, Fula 20%, Manjaca 14%, Mandinga 13%, Papel 7%), European and mulatto less than 1% Religions: indigenous beliefs 50%, Islam 45%, Christian 5% National Holiday: Independence Day, September 24 Literacy rate: 42.4% (2003 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $808 million; per capita $500. Real growth rate: 2.5%. Inflation: 3.8%. Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 8%. Agriculture: rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish. Labor force: 480,000 (1999); agriculture 82%, industry and services 18% (2000 est.). Industries: agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks. Natural resources: fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone, unexploited deposits of petroleum. Exports: $133 million f.o.b. (2006): cashew nuts, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber. Imports: $200 million f.o.b. (2006): foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products. Major trading partners: Pakistan, Nigeria, Italy, Senegal, Portugal (2006). Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 10,200 (2005); mobile cellular: 95,000 (2005). Radio broadcast stations: AM 1 (transmitter out of service), FM 4, shortwave 0 (2002). Television broadcast stations: n.a. (2005). Internet hosts: 0 (2007). Internet users: 37,000 (2006). Transportation: Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 3,455 km; paved: 965 km; unpaved: 2,490 km (2002). Waterways: rivers are navigable for some distance; many inlets and creeks give shallow-water access to much of interior (2007). Ports and harbors: Bissau, Buba, Cacheu, Farim. Airports: 27 (2007). International disputes:attempts to stem refugees and cross-border raids, arms smuggling, and political instability from a separatist movement in Senegal's Casamance region. Major sources and definitions

Geography

A neighbor of Senegal and Guinea in West Africa, on the Atlantic coast, Guinea-Bissau is about half the size of South Carolina. The country is a low-lying coastal region of swamps, rain forests, and mangrove-covered wetlands, with about 25 islands off the coast. The Bijagos archipelago extends 30 mi (48 km) out to sea.

Government

Republic.

History

The land now known as Guinea-Bissau was once the kingdom of Gabú, which was part of the larger Mali empire. After 1546 Gabú became more autonomous, and at least portions of the kingdom existed until 1867. The first European to encounter Guinea-Bissau was the Portuguese explorer Nuño Tristão in 1446; colonists in the Cape Verde islands obtained trading rights in the territory, and it became a center of the Portuguese slave trade. In 1879, the connection with the islands was broken.

The African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (another Portuguese colony) was founded in 1956, and guerrilla warfare by nationalists grew increasingly effective. By 1974 the rebels controlled most of the countryside, where they formed a government that was soon recognized by scores of countries. The military coup in Portugal in April 1974 brightened the prospects for freedom, and in August the Lisbon government signed an agreement granting independence to the province. The new republic took the name Guinea-Bissau.

Guinea-Bissau Experiences a Series of Coups

In Nov. 1980, João Bernardo Vieira headed a military coup that deposed Luis Cabral, president since 1974. In his 19 years of rule, Vieira was criticized for crony capitalism and corruption and for failing to alleviate the poverty of Guinea-Bissau, one of the world's poorest countries. Vieira also brought in troops from Senegal and the Republic of Guinea to help fight against an insurgency movement, a highly unpopular act. In May 1999 rebels deposed Vieira.

Following a period of military rule, Kumba Yalá, a former teacher and popular leader of Guinea-Bissau's independence movement, was elected president in 2000. In Sept. 2003 he was deposed in a military coup. Yalá's increasingly repressive measures and refusal to hold elections were cited as causes. In 2005, former president Vieira returned from six years of exile in Portugal and won the presidency in the July 2005 elections.

Prime Minister Aristides Gomes resigned in April 2007, after Parliament voted to censure his government. Martinho Ndafa Kabi was appointed as his successor. President Vieira dissolved Parliament in August 2008, precipitating the fall of the government of Prime Minister Kabi. Former prime minister Carlos Gomes Júnior succeeded Kabi.

President Is Assassinated

President Vieira was shot to death by army troops in March 2009. The assassination was said to be in retaliation for an earlier bomb attack that killed the army chief of staff, Gen. Batista Tagme Na Wai, which troops blamed on the president. The military denied a coup attempt.

In June presidential elections, former acting president Malam Bacai Sanhá took 39.6% of the vote, former president Kumba Ialá 29.4%, former interim president Henrique Rosa 24%, and Iaya Djaló 3.1%. Sanhá prevailed over Ialá in the July run-off election, winning 63% of the vote.

See also Encyclopedia: Guinea-Bissau.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Guinea-Bissau

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