Once a bastion of peace in war-torn West Africa, concerns have mounted about rising instability in Guinea. The ailing, septuagenarian President Lansana Conte has no official successor, and the powerful military remains fractious.

Violent protests against the president and a crippling national strike threw the country into two months of turmoil in early 2007, sparking fears that unrest could reignite conflict across a volatile West African region slowly emerging from a decade of civil wars.

More than 130 Guineans were killed in 2007 in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters led by union bosses who said President Conte - a reclusive, chain-smoking diabetic in his 70s - was unfit to rule.

Conte's crackdown attracted international criticism, as a strict curfew was enforced and troops were told to shoot rioters and looters. Human Rights Watch said Guinea's security forces shot, beat and robbed civilians during two weeks of martial law to put down a general strike in February 2007.

The strike action ended when Conte named respected diplomat Lansana Kouyate as prime minister, satisfying union demands and ending nearly seven weeks of on-off stoppages. The power-sharing deal helped to defuse protests against Conte, who's ruled the country since seizing power in a 1984 coup.

Belgian-based think tank International Crisis Group had warned that repression could lead to a bloody military take-over which could turn into a full-scale civil war.

The unrest had also raised fears that violence could spill over into Guinea's volatile neighbours. These include Liberia and Sierra Leone, both recovering from civil wars, Guinea Bissau and Ivory Coast.

Tensions between Conte and the unions rose again in early 2008 in response to Conte's dismissal of a minister in the consensus government, but a new national strike was averted when the government agreed to monitor the implementation of the power-sharing deal.

Guinea is the world's top exporter of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminium. Yet despite its mineral wealth, the country is one of the poorest in the world and around a quarter of people are undernourished. See Guinea facts and figures.

But it's not just Guineans who are suffering.

The country is host to more than 22,000 refugees and asylum seekers from neighbouring countries - predominantly Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the U.N. refugee agency. About 9,000 live in urban areas, where they don't have documentation and find it hard to get work, but most live in camps in the southeast.

Repatriation had been progressing fast since the start of the 21st century. As recently as 2000, Guinea was hosting almost half a million refugees from neighbouring countries, but with the end of civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone most have gone home.

The unrest of 2007 disrupted repatriation of people hoping to return home and restricted aid workers' access to camps.

International aid and investment is problematic in a country plagued by doubts about where the money will go. Guinea came close to the bottom of a 2007 corruption survey by watchdog Transparency International - ranking 168th out of 179 countries. Among the African countries on the list, Somalia, Sudan and Chad all scored worse than Guinea. That was an improvement on Guinea's rating the previous year, when it was named as the most corrupt country in Africa.

International lenders are demanding it clean up before they restart loan programmes. The European Union has however resumed some aid payments, which it stopped in 2004, after Guinea began implementing some political and economic reforms.

But there's little sign of Conte giving up his seat at the top. He has counted on the support of the armed forces for his long autocratic rule, and analysts say this remains vital to keep him in power.

In 2001, a constitutional referendum ensured Conte would extend his rule for life. The opposition called the referendum a "constitutional coup d'etat". Two years later, elections cleared the way for him to rule until 2010.