The NPCA Ebola Relief Fund received the final report from one of our grant recipients, detailing their work in a very unique and powerful way. A full-length movie with scenes from their volunteer training to door-to-door education campaigns. Uploading the video is proving more difficult... perhaps in the next post.

Fasso Demen is a co-op group from the Kankan neighborhood of Bordo. This has been a site for many PCVs and a great community for collaboration. The group is lead by the very enthusiastic and forward thinking Mamadi Kensa Conde. They proposed a project to address two important factors of the Ebola epidemic; pregnant women and safe burials.

By educating women and addressing the sensitive situation of burial, Fasso Demen was able bring a collective sense of cultural healing and preventing the epidemic from spreading. Women were able to contribute to their gender appropriate role in burial prep but the risk of spreading Ebola was contained. The group used a multi-channel approach with education sessions in two health centers, multiple radio broadcasts, and door-to-door campaigns with women speaking to women about avoiding the risk of transmission.

Fasso Demen's activities directly and indirectly reached 660 individuals. Very few cases of Ebola have reached the city of Kankan and the prefecture but there are 660 more individuals aware and prepared.

The epidemic and is far from over and government officials have authorized quarantine procedures in communities of lower Basse Cote (see link below). NPCA Ebola Relief Fund has one more round of grants to disburse. You could be a part of the next project to eradicate Ebola in a Guinean community. Donations will be collected until Tuesday June 30th!

 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/24/us-health-ebola-guinea-idUSKBN0P42PI20150624utm_campaign=KFF%3A+Global+Health+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=19379208&_hsenc=p2ANqtz_j3fEFs4Ib8q20H9R3cCLDqrrDzEKWAkWatAoxgicL0RYVo_VKKgqQeGOqmDI0HxiFo1xqh67ivWedpuD-TAxpoWgfBw&_hsmi=19379208

A woman receives a one-on-one consultation with a Priorite Sante health worker.

Women at the Ratoma health center Ebola education session.

Ebola victim speaking at education session.

Volunteer coordinators

     The situation in Guinea continues to be relatively stable, according to the World Health Organization's most recent assessment, released on November 12. Transmission of the Ebola virus is steady, with Conakry and parts of the Forest region continuing to be the most severely hit areas. Siguiri has also emerged as a pivotal prefecture in the regional fight against Ebola, in light of the news that the virus has spread once again to Mali, including its capital city, Bamako.

     The official numbers as of November 12 were as follows: 1,878 cases with 1,142 deaths in Guinea alone. Of the 34 total prefectures in Guinea, only 10 remain completely unscathed, mostly clustered in the northern Fouta Djallon.

     With respect to Peace Corps' presence in Guinea, Volunteers who were evacuated will not be returning anytime soon, but will have the option of reinstatement, if the situation should clear up by October 31, 2015. Currently, Peace Corps Guinea staff and administration are hopeful that G27's spring arrival date will hold, but the situation will need to improve dramatically before then. Nevertheless, staff and administration are continuing operations as normal in Guinea, albeit with CDC oversight.

     For several weeks now, Friends of Guinea, along with its sister organizations in Sierra Leone and Liberia, has been soliciting grant proposals from Host Country Nationals combating Ebola in the affected region. In collaboration with the National Peace Corps Association, the organizations are seeking worthy proposals of up to $3,000, with the intention of supporting local grassroots organizations that may not have other sources of funding.

     While the Ebola Relief Fund campaign continues, and we are still seeking grant proposals, we are happy to announce that three deserving proposals have been selected from Guinea in the first round. The NGOs AGEDD, AGUIFPEG, and Amis du Monde pour le Developpement, have each been selected to receive $3,000 to advance their cause. Each NGO is operating in a district that has seen Ebola cases: AGEDD is seeking to raise awareness in public places such as mosques and markets around Forecariah; AGUIFPEG of Kindia is aiming to promote awareness through theater; and AMD will be using its funds to transport supplies and hire community organizers in the heavily affected N'zerekore district.

     We at FOG are very grateful for all of the applications that we received and all of the work being done on the ground in the region. We are, furthermore, excited to continue receiving proposals as the campaign continues, and we hope that we can help to make some difference in the communities where these organizations operate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Respectfully,

To help with the Ebola crisis, please post as widely as possible. This is NOT a commercial product; it is free of charge. Any response and discussion is greatly appreciated!

PRESS RELEASE

Ebola death rate is about 50% so far. That means 50% recover to a full state of health! What can those who are sicker do to move themselves onto the recovery side?

It is true that standard medicine has no proven cure to kill the virus and no vaccines. All that can be done is to enhance the body’s own ability to health itself — hydration (with intravenous fluids if necessary), rest, good nutrition, and careful hygiene are basic — as well as isolation and quarantine to protect family members and the community.

Modern technology finally brings another encouraging option, however. Homeopathy is a two-century-old science with remedies capable of stimulating the body to heal itself. Homeopathy actually became famous worldwide treating scarlet fever, smallpox, yellow fever, cholera, typhoid, etc. — all as intense as Ebola. Ordinarily, the difficulty in the chaos of Ebola is just getting to a homeopathic doctor or pharmacy to acquire a remedy. Not a problem nowadays!

It turns out that homeopathic remedies have been made into electronic form that can be played for just 10 seconds over a cellphone! Sounding like mere white noise, the frequencies played actually help to heal!

Coherence Apps LLC has created two eRemedies carefully chosen to stimulate healing forces of those suffering from Ebola — as well as enhancing prevention for those at risk of exposure. Founder and Chairman Bill Gray MD is a Stanford Medical School trained physician with 43 years of experience practicing and teaching homeopathy worldwide. Fortunately, he was able to interview an internationally famous Ebola expert to gather detailed clinical symptoms needed to choose precise eRemedies for this epidemic.

Those interested in this perfectly safe method of healing Ebola sufferers can simply go to http://emergencyDr.org. On the Ebola page, follow instructions to take one or another of the eRemedies. They play for 10 seconds each time — with a benign white noise sound. … And, this service is completely free of charge.

Improvement in energy, fever and other symptoms can be expected within a day or so, often within hours.


Bill Gray MD, Founder and Chairman
Coherence Apps LLC
459 Monterey Ave #205
Los Gatos, CA 95030

email for press contact only: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On the evening of July 29, all 340 Volunteers between the countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea simultaneously received a text message from their country's respective administration, directing them to check their email for information about the temporary removal of Volunteers and Trainees from the region. Each of us reacted to the news differently, but how my friend and I at the Conakry house reacted is a good paradigm for many of us: shock and denial. Sitting on the roof of the house, finishing up dinner, my friend relayed the message to me, as my phone was unavailable. Despite the very clear language of the message, which I can no longer recall, we agreed that it had to be a mistake, a miscommunication or some other such reality-defying error.

 After about 15 minutes had passed, I went downstairs to get my phone and casually called another friend to confirm that this was indeed a mistake. When he answered with “Are you reading this?”, I immediately knew that it was I who had been mistaken. We hurriedly moved from the house over to the room called 'the IRC,' where we have three computers for Volunteer use. Sure enough, the email was there for each of us, and provided us with the core details of the 'temporary removal' of Volunteers from the three countries. Shocked, confused, and upset, having the company of other Volunteers at that time was an invaluable comfort.

We received the message on Tuesday evening, and Volunteers began leaving Guinea on Friday. We departed in waves, with the final group leaving on Monday. Most of us had very little time to say confusing and tearful goodbyes to our communities. There was no opportunity to have closure, for most of us, no way of knowing whether we definitely would need it, and not enough time to know how or what to pack. Aside from our personal difficulties and having to abruptly say goodbye to one another, I think that most would agree that by far the most difficult part was having to tell our communities that we must leave because their country is not safe enough for us. For these people, our friends, neighbors, families, students, colleagues, this is home; they don't have the option of picking up and leaving when disaster strikes. We do, and the ugly juxtaposition that this reality forced us to confront is unpleasant to the point of being nearly unbearable. None of us wanted to leave, but as with so many things in Guinea, it was out of our hands.

 One can find various descriptions of the current state of the outbreak in all three countries through numerous news outlets. Some of them are sensational; others are not. I can speak best of course only to the situation in my village and to a lesser extent, Conakry. (It's worth mentioning that the Fouta Djallon, where my village is located, has been fortunate to remain relatively unscathed thus far during the outbreak, with the notable exception of cases in Télimélé.) The situation in Tougué was, and is, according to my good friend Thiako, not at all an emergency. This is probably the case for much of Guinea, but the fact is that in some areas the outbreak is clearly very dangerous, and as such Peace Corps made the only decision it could to ensure the health and safety of its Volunteers.

We are all deeply saddened, each of us in our own way, to have to be removed from our communities while Guineans stay there battling the Ebola outbreak. It's not just, it's not fair, it's not right, but it's what happened. The people of Guinea will survive; they'll continue to be some of the toughest people in the world; and they'll continue to display their incredible generosity to friends and strangers alike. If we're lucky, we will have the privilege to return to Guinea within the coming weeks, so that we can continue to learn, teach, and work alongside them.

Thank you for the update, its always hard to know if the media is sensational or simply stating the reality. Its good to hear from those of you in country.

Guineans love football. They play it all the time, in the streets, on rocky fields, even without shoes. It should come as no surprise then that World Cup mania has been sweeping over Guinea for the last several weeks. In African solidarity, Guineans tend to heartily support the five African teams that qualified for the tournament, but of course there's no shortage of love for Ronaldo and Messi. On the whole, Guineans seem ambivalent about supporting the French squad: some do, some don't. In any event, inch'Allah, in 2018 Guineans won't have to worry about that, as the national team, Le Syli, is improving. Le Syli failed to qualify for the tournament this time around, losing a touch match to Egypt in the qualifier, but they came in a respectable second in their qualifying group.

One infected PCV and that Guinea party is over. Hello ET's! Seeing as how you guys are so well kept in the loop, you'll probably find out via western relatives and friends first.

How about an update? Seeing as how the situation has gotten a lot worse since April, with no signs of improvement

For a time, all was calm. It seemed like all cases had been contained and the number of new cases were dropping off. Peace Corps Volunteers were allowed to re-enter their health centers and continue their work. Conakry, and the richer enclaves up country (for example, the banks) became more lax in their initial surge towards preventative hand-washing. Travel became less of a scary prospect, and everyone simply adjusted to the idea that Ebola is in country, but is extremely hard to catch and is going to affect a very, very small number of extremely unfortunate individuals.

Recently, though, it seems like Ebola has made a resurgence. Many new cases have sprung up (according to the WHO, 37 between May 29th & June 1st), in a range of locations. New cases in Boke, Boffa, & Telimele, with alerts in Dubreka, show that containment wasn't entirely successful in the Basse Cote. Fortunately, new cases have been linked to old ones- this thing is still following the routine and understood mechanisms of transfer. There aren't any cases of new animal to human infection. In light of these events, Volunteers have once again been told to stay away from their medical centers, one of the few places where they could come into contact with the extremely ill (again, Ebola is rarely contagious until patients become extremely ill).

In general, Volunteers feel pretty safe. Some Volunteers continue to deal with the extremely disconcerting fact that Ebola is not only present in their region, but sometimes in their very village. Others deal with the difficulties of educating the populace about Ebola. Many Guineans feel that Ebola is a conspiracy, perhaps made up by President Alpha Conde to delay certain political processes, or introduced (or fabricated) by the West to tamper with Guinea (in the same vein as the prevalent Guinean myth that condoms actually contain HIV in the packaging). I myself was informed by a fellow teacher that Ebola did not exist, and then that it perhaps did exist but could be cured by eating frogs (proven by the fact that this teacher himself ate frogs and did not, indeed, have Ebola).

The message to take home is that the crisis isn't over, but it is still under control. Peace Corps responded rapidly and appropriately to the evolving situation. Our staff in Conakry are more than capable of keeping Volunteers safe. Send your thoughts and prayers instead to the rare and unfortunate few who will have to suffer through this horrible disease.

so then what are you going to do about it? Are you going to help? If so then how?

I've been surprised a number of times, for better and worse, by the state of technology in Guinea. In some areas, inexpensive technology has transformed Guinean society, but there remains much to be desired in other areas. I've been in Guinea for 10 months now, and here are some of my observations thus far.

The power grid: The PCV house in Conakry has power 24/7. It's powered mostly by city power, but most of the city gets no electricity. The guards run a generator to pick up the city's slack. The Labe house, in the Fouta, gets city power most nights for variable amounts of time, which we supplement pretty well with solar power. On a sunny day we can collect enough energy to power the lights and house computers for several hours. There's one ethernet cord to be shared between the computers, and there is wi-fi, but it works for only select machines.

Cell phones: In order to get a better picture of the cell phone situation for Guineans, I asked some questions of Mr. Barry, a sixth grade teacher in my village. (Mr. Barry comes to my house for weekly English lessons. He is conversational in English despite having never studied it in school; everything he learned is from PCVs.) Mr. Barry tells me that he bought his phone in 2008, but some Guineans had them as early as the early 2000s. At first, the major network provider in Guinea was Sotelgui, but now Orange is dominant. The other major service providers are Cellcom and Areeba. In polling my classes, on a random day in Tounkourouma, I found the following numbers: 80/145 students (55%) had a phone. Not bad for a college en brousse. As for Volunteers, as far as I know every current Volunteer has a cell phone, which can be used to make domestic or international calls. Some Volunteers have even begun to invest in smart phones, which can be used to access the internet anywhere that cell service exists, which brings me to my next topic.

PCs/Internet: Most Guineans au village don't have computers, but I've met a few who do and I myself will be purchasing computers for two Guinean friends while on vacation this summer. The easiest and most common way to connect to the internet is via smart phones, which range from 100,000 GNF to several million for the newest, fanciest phones. From there, the web can be accessed regularly for a small fee. USB internet keys are also rapidly becoming popular for those with a PC, and in fact Peace Corps is providing one now to every new incoming Volunteer. An Orange key currently costs 300,000 GNF, and like a smart phone, works with a SIM card and therefore gets service wherever there is cell service. In summary, cheap cell phones, service providers, and web access have become readily available in Guinea, which makes communicating and coordinating much more efficient. However, there remain substantial obstacles to be done before most of the country has regular power, and for a country that has yet to connect all of its major cities with paved roads, that may not yet be top priority.

Friends of Guinea,

My name is Shreyan Sen, PCV Guinea '12-'14. I'll be your second new blogger writing live from Guinea. Some background about myself- I'm an Ed Volunteer from the Haute region, stage G22. I'll be COS'ing in September, but until then I hope to shed some light on contemporary Guinea, for old Guinea hands, new invitees, and anyone else who loves this quixotic country.

My beautiful site goes by the name Djelibakoro (cryptically telling us that the griot is below)- it's a new site, but it's also the twin site to older Niandankoro, over on the Niger where Kankan Prefecture turns into Siguiri Prefecture. Years ago the two prefectures were separated by that river, but today Djeliba/Niandan is host to Guinea's largest bridge, connecting the two villages and the shiny, perfect road that passes from Kankan all the way to Bamako.

At site, when I'm not teaching, I like to invest time in my secondary projects, several of which involve my school (WASH-Friendly Schools & School Garden projects). My favorite project by far though is the solar drying project, because mangoes are Allah's apology for hot season, and they're even better during cold season. Food transformation is awesome, am I right?

Writing about Guinea is fun, and it's even better when you can actually answer people's questions and talk about what really interests them. So if curiosity ever calls, leave a comment on the blog detailing what you'd like to know about contemporary Guinea and I'll try to answer. And especially for RPCVs, comment back and tell us what Guinea was like back during your service!

Awa, An Be Koffe!

Thanks to three very hard-working Volunteers: Geoff Delperdang (G22, Télimélé), Liz Chadwick (G20, Boké), and Hannah Koeppl (G24, Kankan), hundreds of Guinean students had the opportunity to participate in spelling bees at the school, regional, and national levels. Each Education Volunteer (and a few Extension Volunteers) held a school spelling bee at their middle school. The top two students from each school then had the chance to compete in a regional bee, with each region holding two bees. From each of these, the top three students moved on to the final round: the national bee in Mamou. In Mamou, before the competition at the hotel ENATEF, we did a variety of team-building activities and games with the students. They and the Volunteers had a lot of fun, and each of the kids made some new friends. The activities also served to loosen the kids up a bit, so that they would not be performing in front of a crowd of complete strangers. The spelling bee competition represented an excellent opportunity to expand the horizons of our young students. First and foremost, it got them about excited about studying French. Second, dozens of students had the opportunity to get out and experience something different from their village, probably many of them for the first time. Finally, for those lucky enough to reach the final round in Mamou, it was a really beautiful thing to watch kids from all across Guinea, with different backgrounds and languages, work together and compete in a spirit of friendly competition. More than the spelling of difficult French words, we hope that is what our students continue to carry with them after this experience. Ryan Plesh

Where in the Fouta are you? I was Labe 95-97, so curious to know.

Thank you so much for the update! It is always nice to hear from a PCV who is on the ground. Have fun and enjoy your time. It goes too fast! Wes '01-03

Awesome to have a Blogger directly from Guinea. Will be following your posts with interest.

Hello Friends of Guinea! I’m a current Peace Corps Guinea Volunteer, and I’ll be blogging for FOG inch’Allah (ideally) twice a month, ostensibly until my COS (Close of Service) in the fall of 2015. I’m an Education Volunteer from the G24 stage, which arrived in Guinea in the fall of 2013. The current stages in Guinea are G22-G25, and we span the sectors of: Education, Public Health, and Agroforestry. Education Volunteers in Guinea teach primarily math, physics, and chemistry, as well as English. My site is in the mountainous Moyenne Guinée (Middle Guinea) region, locally referred to as the “Fouta Djallon.” Currently Volunteers are distributed throughout Moyenne Guinée, Haute Guinée (Upper Guinea), and the Basse Côte (Low Coast) regions. There are approximately 100 total Volunteers in Guinea, although the number is continually in flux with the coming and going of stages and individuals. Roughly 40% of the current Volunteers are teachers, and the other 60% are divided between the two extension sectors: PH and Agfo. This is an important time for Peace Corps Guinea and for the Republic of Guinea as a whole. Peace Corps service here has unfortunately been interrupted several times in the past due to political unrest, most recently in 2009, but for the first time in its history Guinea has a full democracy complete with democratically elected officials in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of its government. Its situation is far from ideal, but the conditions are set for things to continue to improve here into the future. I feel grateful to be a part of that, and I’m happy to be in a position that allows me to communicate the progress that is being made here to new and old friends of Guinea. Thank you for your support. Best, Ryan Plesh FOG Social Media Chair

Guinea-Bissau is widely described as Africa's first narco-state. But this article in Mmegi Online is the latest to express the concern that narcotraffickers are increasingly moving south into Conakry and may begin to destabilize Guinea as well.

The European Union will deploy a 24-person observer mission to monitor Guinea's oft-delayed legislative elections schedule (for the moment) for this September 24.

At least one person was shot and two wounded at an anti-government rally in Guinea. President Alpha Conde set June 30 as the date for legislative elections without agreeing to opposition demands that he strip a South African company, Waymark, of its contract to manage the voter list and allow the mostly pro-opposition diaspora to vote. 

A government spokesman promised an international inquiry into the incident.

Friends of Guinea has a spiffy new website. Check it out! www.friendsofguinea.org

Guinea's Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that long-delayed legislative elections have been scheduled for May 13, 2013. Though an opposition spokesman expressed disapproval. Guinea has been without a functioning National Assembly as a result of the delays.

Reuters is reporting that three people have died in rioting in the southern Guinean town of Guéckédou. Clashes broke out between government supporters and opposition activists over alleged abuse of power by the military préfet. There has been tension in the area since October when the agriculture minister, who hails from the area, was removed from office amid corruption allegations.

The International  Rescue Committee recently issued a report highlighting what it calls an 'alarming' rate of domestic violence in West Africa (Voice of America news article here; more info from IRC here). The IRC stated that primary threat to women in many West African nations was not war but domestic abuse. The NGO noted that 2/3 of the women who sought help from them had been battered by their husband or partner.

Guinéenews reports that a Conakry theatre company is producing a play based on the memoir L’Enfant noir. Often translated into English as “Dark Child,” L’Enfant noir was written by the Guinean author Camara Laye and is generally considered one of the seminal works in African literature. The play is being produced by the company Labortor’arts in conjunction with the Franco-Guinean cultural center.

Friends of Guinea is excited to welcome a new slate of officers to its board of directors.



SECRETARY: Pat Barron

MEMBERSHIP: Teresa Pope

GUINEA PARENT SUPPORT: Betty Walker

COMMUNICATIONS AND WEB ADMIN: Amy Hylinski Daffé

FINANCES: JanRose Ottaway Martin

PROJECTS: Anne Sites


Mackenzie Dabo (newsletter) and Urska Manners (listserv) are remaining in their positions.

Outgoing communications director Brian Farenell will still maintain this blog as well as the FOG Twitter feed.



A big thank you to the outgoing officers for all your service to FOG!

Stephanie Chasteen (secretary)

Brian Clappier (membership)

Karen Starr (web)

Shad Engkilterra (finances)

Donald Parker (projects)

President Alpha Conde has announced that legislative elections originally scheduled for July 8 will be postponed indefinitely. The delay, demanded by the opposition, is designed to improve the voter registration process.

The Guinean government has denounced the apparent military coup d'etat in neighboring Mali. Guinea's Communications Minister said that "Guinea's position is identical to that of ECOWAS." The West African regional group firmly condemned the coup and call for a return to constitutional order in the country.

The International Monetary Fund recently agreed to extend a US $200 million credit to the Guinean government to help restore stability and usher the country towards completion point for billions of dollars of debt relief, noted Reuters. The IMF lauded Guinean for increasing economic growth and stabilizing inflation.

Some 50 people were killed and 27 reportedly injured in a serious road accident in eastern Guinea. A gros camion carrying merchants to the weekly market in Beyla "was travelling downhill at high speed when the brakes failed," according to a witness.

Elections for a new Guinean National Assembly has been set for this upcoming July 8 by the country's Independent National Electoral Commission, according to RFI Afrique radio.

A Guinean court has charged a top government official for his alleged role in the infamous September 28, 2009 massacre at Conakry's main sports stadium. Colonel Moussa Tiegboro Camara, the current secretary of state in charge of fighting organized crime, faces accusations over the killing of scores of protesters and mass rape of women; he was head of presidential guard at the time. More than 150 people were killed and over 100 women raped, according to Human Rights Watch, and the massacre galvanized opposition to military rule which eventually led to democratic elections in 2010. Observers view it as significant that the case was seized by the Guinean domestic justice system rather than the International Criminal Court.

A severe fire ravaged through the Matoto market in Conakry several weeks ago, destroying over 20 boutiques. No lives were lost. An electrical short circuit was identified as the cause of the blaze.

The Guinean national soccer team crushed debutantes Botswana 6-1 in their second group stage game at the African Nations Cup. This was by far the biggest victory by any team at the tournament so far. Botswana had a player ejected shortly before half time for a bad tackle when the score was 3-1.

Guinea play tournament co-favorites Ghana in their final group stage game on Wednesday Feb. 1 at 1:00 pm Eastern Time (1800 GMT). The Syli national will likely advance to the quarterfinals with a win and will likely be eliminated with a loss. They will advance with a draw only if Botswana defeats Mali in the other match.

Follow FOG's Twitter feed for live tweeting of Guinea's African Nations Cup 2012 matches.

Guinea's national soccer team lost by a 1-0 margin to Mali in both teams' opening match at the African Nations Cup tournament held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The Syli national lost to their neighbors despite creating far more quality scoring opportunities. Guinea's next group stage game is on Saturday against Botswana, a team making their first ever appearance at the tournament. Their final match will be next Wednesday against Ghana, one of the teams favored to win the tournament.

Riots erupted in the northwestern town of Kamsar and one person was killed. The protests erupted in response to repeated power outages the mining town. An official for the mining company CBG said protesters blocked the railroad tracks but were dislodged by the army, according to Reuters. AFP added that over 30 were injured after soldiers fired on the protesters. The police station and gendarmerie were reportedly attacked and vehicles set ablaze.

The Guinean national soccer team's opening match in the 2012 African Nations Cup will occur next week. The tournament will be held in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Guinea's opening round matches are as follows:

Jan. 24: vs Mali (1500 GMT)
Jan. 28: vs Botswana (1500 GMT)
Feb. 1: vs Ghana (1700 GMT)

The full Nations Cup schedule can be found here, though bear in mind that kickoffs on the linked to site are in central African time, which is two hours ahead of GMT and currently seven hours ahead of American EST.

Details regarding any television and/or online broadcasting are not available but readers are invited to share anything they learn.

Late last month, the government of Pres. Alpha Condé, political opposition parties and civil society organizations met with each other, according to Jeune Afrique. The dialogue was established to alleviate tension following the indefinite postponement of legislative elections that had originally been scheduled for last December 29. Despite this, several key opposition figures, most notably former prime ministers Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sidya Touré, were not present at the meeting.

The Guinean government has forcibly retired some 4600 soldiers in a attempt to reform an institution described by Reuters as 'notoriously oversized and unruly army." Reports suggest that the army's ranks have quadrupled in the last decade.

Guinean legislative elections scheduled for December 29 were postponed indefinitely, by the country's Independent National Electoral Comission. The postponement came in response to opposition demands for a delay to prevent fraud.

Please don't stop updating the site. It's one of the few places to get up to date on what's going on in Guinea!

Africa Arguments (via AllAfrica.com) ran an in-depth analysis of the July 2011 assassination attempt against Pres. Alpha Condé and its implications on Guinean domestic politics.