rebel groups in Guinea, domestic
fighting among disparate rebel groups, warlords, and youth gangs in
Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have created insurgencies, street
violence, looting, arms trafficking, ethnic conflicts skirmishes,
deaths, and refugees in border areas; in 2003, Guinea and Sierra
Leone established a boundary commission to resolve a dispute over
the town of Yenga

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 133,175 (Liberia), 13,633 (Sierra
Leone), 7,064 (Cote d'Ivoire)
IDPs: 100,000 (cross-border incursions from Liberia, Sierra Leone,
Cote d'Ivoire) (2004)

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

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@Guinea-Bissau

Introduction Guinea-Bissau

Background:
Since independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has
experienced considerable upheaval. The founding government consisted
of a single party system and command economy. In 1980, a military
coup established Joao VIEIRA as president and a path to a market
economy and multiparty system was implemented. A number of coup
attempts through the 1980s and early 1990s failed to unseat him and
in 1994 he was elected president in the country's first free
elections. A military coup attempt and civil war in 1998 eventually
led to VIERA's ouster in 1999. In February 2000, an interim
government turned over power when opposition leader Kumba YALA took
office following two rounds of transparent presidential elections.
YALA was ousted in a bloodless coup in September 2003, and Henrique
ROSA was sworn in as President. Guinea-Bissau's transition back to
democracy will be complicated by its crippled economy, devastated in
the civil war.

Geography Guinea-Bissau

Location:
Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea
and Senegal

Geographic coordinates:
12 00 N, 15 00 W

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 36,120 sq km
water: 8,120 sq km
land: 28,000 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly less than three times the size of Connecticut

Land boundaries:
total: 724 km
border countries: Guinea 386 km, Senegal 338 km

Coastline:
350 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical; generally hot and humid; monsoonal-type rainy season
(June to November) with southwesterl