Foreign Competition in Guinea: The Scramble for Natural Resources

Often referred to as Guinea-Conakry to distinguish itself from nearby Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea, as well as the Pacific Island nation of Papua New Guinea, the West African nation of Guinea has an abundance of the world’s most valuable natural resources. Even though the country has “natural affluence,” it is one of the poorest and least-developed nations in the world. Guinea has struggled with political instability and endemic corruption since its independence from France in 1958. Despite the country’s poor infrastructure, there is a significant foreign presence in Guinea. Countries are mostly competing for its mineral resources, such as gold, diamonds, bauxite, and iron ore. The United States, along with other foreign powers, vies for access to these resources and for the ability to influence the country’s government. Tamakènè: A Microcosm of Foreign Competition The village of Tamakènè, located in northwestern Guinea, is a classic example of foreign competition in Africa. Located six kilometers north of the city of Boké and between the profitable bauxite mines at Kamsar and Sangaredi, Tamakènè is home to L’Institut Supérieur des Mines et Géologie de Boké (ISMGB), Guinea’s mining and geology university. The region is known for bauxite, the main ore used in the production of aluminum. Over a quarter of the world’s high-grade bauxite reserves are in Guinea, and in 2017, Guinea surpassed Australia as China’s primary source. There are over 20 foreign companies conducting mining operations in Guinea, but three companies dominate the industry: Chinese-backed Société des Mines de Boké (SMB), Russian-owned RUSAL, and Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG). CBG is 49 percent owned by the Guinean government and 51 percent owned by the international (American and Anglo-Australian) consortium Halco Mining. France’s Alliance Minière Responsable (AMR) also joined the foreign companies vying for a share of the profits from Guinea’s vast bauxite reserves, starting bauxite production operations in 2017 and agreeing to sell the entirety of its output to Chinese SMB. In addition, the French transportation and logistics company United Mining Supply (UMS) is an SMB stakeholder, along with Singapore’s Winning Shipping. While the People’s Republic of China is currently the principal global competitor of the United States, Beijing is not the only foreign presence in Guinea, or the rest of Africa for that matter. The Russian Federation does not wield the same economic clout on the continent as China, but with its private military companies/contractors (PMCs) and increased military presence, Moscow has the potential to negatively affect U.S. national security. A growing Turkish presence in Africa also raises security concerns. France’s longstanding hand in the affairs of its former colonies, along with its counter-terrorism efforts, contributes to instability in countries such as Guinea. Guinea: Forever Influenced by Foreign Actors Guinea has a tumultuous political history, beginning with a period of frosty relations with France when it became the only former French colony in Africa to reject Paris’ offer to integrate into the French overseas community. At the time, Guinea was widely “considered to have the richest potential of France’s African colonies” due to its fertile land and plentiful natural resources. Former French President Charles de Gaulle, enraged by Guinea’s audacity, withdrew all French civil servants and destroyed domestic documentation, isolating the new nation. In response, the country’s first president, Sekou Touré, said, “It is better to be poor and free than to live in opulence and be a slave.” Touré began as a communist-leaning grassroots organizer but is remembered for instilling in his people a strong sense of nationalism and an extreme fear of the state. He died in 1984, and shortly thereafter, his successor restored relatively cordial relations with Paris. Guinea then became the “second-largest recipient of French foreign aid,” with projects set to revitalize infrastructure, training, and education. France once again held the power to influence nearly every aspect of Guinean life, particularly through economic means. The legacies of French colonialism are still felt today in Guinea. Between 1984 and 2010, Guinea experienced three coups and had only four presidents. In many cases, France’s continued presence has perpetuated political instability and domestic turmoil, notably in the Sahel, which threatens to spill over into greater West Africa. In 2010, Alpha Condé became Guinea’s first democratically elected president. His first term in office was chaotic, largely due to the 2013 Ebola epidemic. He used the deadly virus to excuse his lack of progress in improving the economy and infrastructure and won a second term in 2015. He also served as the Chairperson of the African Union from 2017 to 2018. In October 2020, he was re-elected for a third time—this time, violently contested—after pushing through a referendum to extend the country’s two-term limit. While his reelection caused a rift in U.S.-Guinea relations, the leaders of China, Russia, and Turkey publicly supported and congratulated him. China: Mining and Infrastructure Guinea was the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1959. Since then, the two nations have enjoyed over 60 years of “representing an epitome of Africa-China friendly cooperation,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. China’s influence in Guinea is felt most in the mining and infrastructure sectors. In 2017, China agreed to loan Guinea $20 billion in the form of an infrastructure-for-minerals concession. The deal guarantees three Chinese bauxite mining projects whose revenues will repay the loan over 20 years. This arrangement presents direct competition to American-backed CBG, which, in exporting some 14 million tons of bauxite each year, tends to dominate the industry. In addition, this resource-backed loan model—often referred to as the “Angola model” because of Chinese investment in Angolan projects backed by petroleum—is criticized for the unequal gains reaped by the Chinese. Mining in Africa has proven valuable for China, whose declining domestic mineral resources have forced companies to pursue international mining deals. Between 2005 and 2015, Chinese-headquartered mining assets in Africa increased twenty-five-fold, from less than 10 to over 120 operations. This surge is representative of China’s broader economic aspirations and the depletion of its local mineral reserves. In terms of infrastructure, Guinea was an early signatory of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), introduced by General Secretary Xi Jinping in 2013. Since the program’s implementation, the Chinese have been welcomed into many of Guinea’s cities and villages, but positive attitudes have diminished. Guineans have grown frustrated by Chinese companies abandoning incomplete projects at the end of their contracts, and their reputation for hiring few (if any) Guinean workers often leaves local communities without the training or resources to finish the projects.