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The foreign relations of Guinea, including those with its West African neighbors, have improved steadily since 1985.
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Diplomatic history
Guinea re-established relations with France and West Germany in 1975, and with neighboring Ivory Coast and Senegal in 1978. Guinea has been active in efforts toward regional integration and cooperation, especially regarding the Organisation of African Unity and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Guinea participates actively in the deliberations and decisions of a variety of international organizations.
Guinea has participated in both diplomatic and military efforts to resolve conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea-Bissau, and contributed contingents of troops to peacekeeping operations in all three countries as part of ECOMOG, the Military Observer Group of ECOWAS. Guinea has offered asylum to over 700,000 Liberian, Sierra Leonean, and Bissauan refugees since 1990, despite the economic and environmental costs involved.
Guinea is also a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the United States military (as covered under Article 98).
2009 ambassador recall
On 5 May 2009, President Moussa Dadis Camara, who seized power in a bloodless coup which followed the 22 December 2008 death of President Lansana Conté, announced the recall of 30 of Guinea's ambassadors to other countries. The order was made by a presidential decree on state television and was the first major diplomatic move made by the new leader.
The decision affected ambassadors to the United States, the People's Republic of China, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Egypt, South Africa, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Cuba, Switzerland, Serbia, Malaysia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Senegal, Nigeria, Libya, Ghana, Algeria, Morocco, Gabon, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau, comprising almost all of Guinea's foreign embassies. The Guinean representatives to the European Union, the United Nations and the African Union were also affected.
No reason was stated for the recall. The Tocqueville Connection states: "Most of the ambassadors were appointed by former prime minister Lansana Kouyaté, in office from February 2007 until May 2008," raising the possibility that the recall was an attempt on the part of Camara to distance himself from the previous government.
In late March 2009, the Guinean ambassador to Serbia faced expulsion for personal involvement in cigarette smuggling (1,000 packs of cigarettes were found in his BMW) but avoided arrest due to diplomatic immunity (although he was declared as persona non grata).
China
The People's Republic of China and the Republic of Guinea established diplomatic relations on October 14, 1959.
South Korea
Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and Guinea were established on 28 August 2006. The number of South Koreans living in Guinea in 2011 was 70.
Israel
Diplomatic relations between Guinea and Israel were discontinued in 1967. They resumed in June 2016.
United States
Guinea became the first French African colony to gain independence, on 2 October 1958, at the cost of the immediate cessation of all French assistance.
After a temporary suspension due to nationwide political unrest in early 2007, the Peace Corps program in Guinea resumed operations at the end of July. Prior to the suspension, Peace Corps had more than 100 volunteers throughout the country, and the program is gradually increasing its numbers again. Volunteers work in four project areas: secondary education, environment/agro-forestry, public health and HIV/AIDS prevention, and small enterprise development. Guinea has also had a strong Crisis Corps program through the last few years.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Department of State website http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/index.htm (Background Notes).[1]