Market Women's Revolt or Women's Revolt | |||
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Date | 27 August 1977 | ||
Location | Began at Madina Market, Conarky - Spread throughout the country | ||
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Death(s) | Some local governors were killed [3] |
The Market Women's Revolt of 1977 was a series of large demonstrations and riots across Guinea brought about by the imposition of government-set prices for goods sold in the country's public markets. [4]
The riots began on 27 August 1977 when women vendors in Conakry's Madina Market began rioting against the "economic police," who were responsible for enforcing the government's price controls and were often corrupt. The riots spread throughout the country and led to several deaths.
The revolt is seen as a major turning point in the history of Guinea and the end of President Ahmed Sékou Touré's most radical economic reforms. [5] [4] 27 August became a public holiday following the end of President Ahmed Sékou Touré's regime although it was suspended by Lansana Conté's government in 2006, shortly before an uprising sparked by the price of rice took place.
Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Cote d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sierra Leone and Liberia to the south. It is sometimes referred to as Guinea-Conakry after its capital Conakry, to distinguish it from other territories in the eponymous region such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has a population of 13.5 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi).
The modern state of Guinea did not come into existence until 1958, but the history of the area stretches back well before European colonization. Its current boundaries were determined during the colonial period by the Berlin Conference (1884–1885) and the French, who ruled Guinea until 1958.
Ahmed Sékou Touré was a Guinean political leader and African statesman who became the first president of Guinea, serving from 1958 until his death in 1984. Touré was among the primary Guinean nationalists involved in gaining independence of the country from France. He would later die in the United States in 1984.
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Louis Lansana Beavogui was a Guinean politician. He was Prime Minister from 1972 to 1984 and was briefly interim President in 1984.
The Union of African States, sometimes called the Ghana–Guinea–Mali Union, was a short-lived and loose regional organization formed in 1958 linking the West African nations of Ghana and Guinea as the Union of Independent African States. Mali joined in 1961. It disbanded in 1963.
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Camp Boiro or Camp Mamadou Boiro (1960–1984) is a defunct Guinean concentration camp within Conakry city. During the regime of President Ahmed Sékou Touré, thousands of political opponents were imprisoned at the camp. It has been estimated that almost 5,000 people were executed or died from torture or starvation at the camp. According to other estimates, the number of victims was ten times higher: 50,000.
Ismaël Touré was a Guinean political figure and the half brother of President Ahmed Sékou Touré. He was the chief prosecutor at the notorious Camp Boiro.
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Lansana Diané was a general and a minister in the cabinet of Ahmed Sekou Touré, President of Guinea during the First Republic (1958–1984). The military government that took power after Touré's death executed him in 1985.
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Marché Medina is a market in Conakry, Guinea and one of the largest markets in West Africa. The market was the scene of the Guinean Market Women's Revolt in 1977 that marketed a turning point in the country's economic history and was celebrated as a national holiday following the end of President Ahmed Sékou Touré's regime.
The 1984 Guinean coup d'état was the bloodless military coup that took place in Guinea on 3 April 1984, led by Colonel Lansana Conté. It led to the deposition of Prime Minister Louis Lansana Beavogui, who had held the office since 1972, and had been serving as interim president since March, when longtime President Ahmed Sékou Touré died during an emergency heart operation at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States.
Mafory Bangoura, or Hadja Aissatou Mafory Bangoura was an activist for an independent Guinea, and post-independence a politician holding the post of Minister for Social Affairs in the 1970s. Known as the 'Women's President of Guinea', her portrait featured on the one syli banknote, issued in 1981.
Guinea–Turkey relations are the foreign relations between Guinea and Turkey. Guinea opened its embassy in Ankara and Turkey opened its embassy in Conakry in 2013.