Vol 51 No 19 | GUINEA Election delays and doubts 24th September 2010 The sudden postponement of the 19 September second round of the presidential election raises fresh doubts about the military’s commitment to handing over power and the prospect of...
Vol 51 No 18 | GUINEA All to play for 10th September 2010 The military organisers of the presidential election claim that they are neutral and that the candidates are evenly matched Two politicians enter the second round of the presidential election, the most open contest since Guinea won Independence in 1958 – thanks mainly to the apparent lack of...
Vol 51 No 18 | GUINEA Expanding the contracts 10th September 2010 Several mining companies took advantage of Guinea’s political transition to sign contracts in exchange for shining promises of future wealth. Both the candidates in the second round of...
Vol 51 No 14 | GUINEA A second, tougher round 9th July 2010 Business ties, ethnic politics and elite intrigues will shape a close race in the run-off for the presidency Former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo and long-time oppositionist Alpha Condé will battle it out in the second round of the presidential elections, due on 18 July. Political...
Vol 51 No 14 | GUINEA Minister Thiam covers his bases 9th July 2010 Mahmoud Thiam, the energetic mines minister and former senior staffer at Union de Banques Suisses, insists that his decisions over the past 18 months are not reversible –...
Vol 51 No 13 | GUINEA High-stakes election 25th June 2010 Over $10 billion of mining investment ride on the outcome of this election – and its military organisers are determined to maintain their influence Eighteen months after the coup led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, the military Conseil National pour la Démocratie et le Développement (CNDD) is keeping its promise of a...
Vol 51 No 13 | GUINEAMINING Mine not yours 25th June 2010 Ahead of the 27 June elections (see Feature), the military regime has warned Rio Tinto to accept formally that it has lost two blocks of the giant Simandou...
Vol 51 No 11 | GUINEA Votes and the mining houses 28th May 2010 A heavy crop of parties will contest next month’s election but the real contest is about controlling mineral rights Of the 20-odd candidates running in the 27 June presidential election, two veterans stand out. They are Alpha Condé, the pugnacious leader of the Rassemblement du Peuple de...
Vol 51 No 11 | GUINEA Promising contracts 28th May 2010 Guinea’s interim government has seen through several big developments in the mineral sector, in spite of an agreement that no new deals be ratified until after June’s elections....
Vol 51 No 10 | GUINEALIBERIA Beny’s railway coup 14th May 2010 The colourful Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz has finalised two remarkable deals this year: he has sold 51% of his iron ore mining operations in Guinea to Brazil’s Vale...