Guinea President reshuffles government overnight on the face of repeated strikes at Bauxite mines

The repeated instances of civil unrest in Guinea, particularly in the mineral-rich region of Boké in the west of the country have been incessantly growing over time. Guineans claim that the mining companies in Guinea failed to contribute to their wellbeing, despite being a country with the highest bauxite reserves in the world amounting to 7.4 billion tonnes. In the initial five months of 2017, bauxite export from the country to China reached 9.4 million tonnes, up 164.5 per cent from the corresponding period last year. In May alone, Guinea bauxite export to China reached 2.2 million tonnes, up 131 per cent from last year. 2018 has also been a kickass for the country as one of its bauxite mining companies La Guineenne des Mines (GDM) announced the shipment of their first bauxite consignment from a western Boke project in the starting of the year.

Due to this robust bauxite market in Guinea, the local population believes that the mining firms in the country should provide them with some basic services that would uplift their livelihoods.

Guinea’s President Alpha Conde’s government has faced repeated strikes by mineworkers. On the face of these continual civil unrest and strikes, President decided to reshuffle his government overnight, appointing new finance and security ministers among others. However, no official reason is given for these sweeping changes.

In his reshuffle, Conde replaced 13 out of 33 ministers in his government but retained Abdoulaye Magassouba as country’s mines and geology minister.