African Media Barometer GUINEA 2011 Summary Guinea is known for its fierce struggle for independence, which it obtained in 1958. Struggle leader Ahmed Sekou Touré, then very popular in his country, as elsewhere in Africa, became the country’s first president. He preached PanAfricanism, “the total decolonisation of the country’s structures” and the setting up of a “socialist society”. Sekou Touré was the target of many assassination attempts and accused France of plotting to overthrow his regime which, in its resistance, gradually became a dictatorship that devoured many of its own children. During Sekou Touré’s rule, the media operated under rigid state-party control and freedom of expression was not tolerated in any form whatsoever. When Sekou Toure died in 1984, Colonel Lansana Conte, leader of the Military Council for National Redress (Comité Militaire de Redressement National, CMRN) seized power. When he became President of the Republic, Lansana Conte granted amnesty to political prisoners, dismantled the socialist system, curbed the power of the military, opened the country up to Western capital, encouraged Western investment, and strengthened ties with France and Guinea’s West African neighbours. Fundamental freedoms were restored and the first laws ever to promote media freedom and creating a media regulatory board were passed in 1991. The airwaves were opened up only in 2005, following a long period of pressure from the international community. President Lansana Conte also survived numerous coup attempts before instituting a semblance of democratic tolerance that led to the first multi-party elections. These elections confirmed him in power in 1993 and again in 1998 but were followed by violent protests and strikes. Opposition leaders, especially current President Alpha Conde, were brutalised and imprisoned under the Lansana Conte regime. The civil wars in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia also affected Guinea, which suffered from rebel incursions into its territory, and from an influx of refugees. From 2006, social movements began to gain ground against the Conte regime. In January 2007, the two main trade unions launched strike actions that were followed by rioting in the principal towns and cities. The Conte regime was forced to allow for a process of political transition by appointing a new prime minister to head a government of national unity charged with the task of addressing the concerns and demands of socio-political movements prior to general elections. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GUINEA 2011 69