Guinea is located on the west coast of Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It has turbulent neighbors: Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Guinea occupies 245,857 square kilometers (94,900 square miles), slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Oregon. Its population was estimated to be 9,246,462 in July 2004, and its per capita income at $2,100 in 2003, about the same as Ghana, Nicaragua, and Pakistan.

Guinea is ethnically diverse. The Peuhl people constitute 40 percent of its population; the Malinke, 30 percent; the Soussou, 20 percent; and smaller ethnic groups, 10 percent. Religiously, Guinea's is not diverse: 85 percent of its population is Muslim, with Christians accounting for 8 percent and followers of indigenous beliefs, 7 percent. With a life expectancy of less than 49 years and an adult literacy rate estimated at between 36 and 41 percent (and a literacy rate for women of 22 percent), the United Nations Human Development Report 2004 ranked Guinea 160 out of 177 nations for...