In 1958 independence was granted under the leadership of Sekou Toure, his party was the Parti Democratique de Guinee.
Guinea was for many years one of Africa's most reclusive states this was due to Toure's stand against French colonialism. He rejected General de Gaulle's offer to become a member of the French commonwealth as an alternative to total independence and he declared that his country would prefer to be in poverty and in liberty rather than in riches and slavery. The French retaliated by withdrawing all aid.
Toure became very paranoid about conspiracies and held show trials, by the end of the 1960's, 250,000 Giuneans were living in exile. He even accused nations of plotting against him.
In 1970 there was a Portuguese backed invasion by Guinean descendents; this attempt to change the situation failed.
Toure was forced to be less harsh in order to attract capital and technical aid for his country. This caused relations with France to improve following the visit of Giscard d'Estaing in late 1978 and so aid came flowing back in.
In March 1984 Toure died.
In April 1984 there was a military coup staged by a group of Colonels wanting to liberate the political structure by eliminating all pro Toure elements. The coup opened up Guinea and returned it to the Western fold. The leaders of the country, President Lansana Conte and Prime Minister Diarra Traorte then dithered.
In July 1985 the show-down came. Traore attempted to stage a coup while Conte was away for a summit meeting of the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States); the coup failed through lack of support. Conte consolidated his power and was forced to adopt austerity measures in order to secure an IMF stand by loan.