Guinea is a Francophone West African country on the Atlantic coast, with a population of about 10 million. It is rich in natural resources but characterized by widespread poverty and limited socio-economic growth and development. While Guinea has experienced regular episodes of internal political turmoil, it was considered a locus of relative stability over the past two decades, a period during which each of its six neighbors suffered one or more armed internal conflicts. Guinea entered a new period of political uncertainty on December 23, 2008, when a group of junior and mid-level military officers seized power, hours after the death of longtime president and former military leader Lansana Cont. Calling itself the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD, after its French acronym), the junta named as interim national president Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, previously a relatively unknown figure. The junta appointed a civilian prime minister and has promised to hold presidential and legislative elections by late 2009. However, some observers fear that rivalries within the CNDD, Dadis Camara's lack of national leadership experience, and administrative and logistical challenges could indefinitely delay the transfer of power to a democratically elected civilian administration. Guinea has never undergone a democratic or constitutional transfer of power since gaining independence in 1958, and Dadis Camara is one of only three persons to occupy the presidency since that time. Dadis Camara has presented himself as a reformer who is leading a CNDD crackdown on corruption and international drug trafficking, both of which had grown significantly under Cont. Junta leaders also initially stated that large international corporate mineral concession contracts would be reviewed and potentially cancelled or reallocated, and several contracts were temporarily suspended. The United States condemned the coup and suspended some bilateral development aid and all security assistance to Guinea, signaling a hiatus in what had generally been a cordial bilateral relationship during much of the Cont period. Prior to the coup, U.S. officials had informally planned a potential budget totaling over $100 million over three years, the bulk of which would have supported maritime security programs and regional peacekeeping training. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)s governance and humanitarian assistance programs, which comprised a substantial portion of the U.S. aid budget in Guinea before the coup, were not affected by the suspension. Both the African Union (AU) and the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Guinea's membership in response to the coup, but did not place sanctions on the CNDD. There is significant disagreement within Guinean political circles and among members of the international community over the relative utility and effects of suspending aid and, more generally, about what policies should define foreign governments and multilateral bodies relations with the junta. This report analyzes developments since the militarys seizure of power in December 2008, Guineas relations with the United States, and U.S. policy in the wake of the coup. It also provides background on Guinean history and politics.