Lansana Conté (30 November 1934 – 22 December 2008) was the second President of Guinea from 3 April 1984 until his death. He was a Muslim and a member of the Susu ethnic group.

Born in Moussayah Loumbaya (Dubréka), a member of the Susu people, he estimated his birthdate to be 1934, although he never knew exactly. Conté was educated at a local Quranic school and attended Dubréka primary school. He then went on to study at military preparatory schools in Bingerville, Côte d'Ivoire and Saint Louis, Senegal.

In 1955, he enlisted in the French army and was posted to Algeria during the war of independence in 1957. After his service in the French Army, Conté returned to Guinea, which became independent from France on 2 October 1958, and was integrated into the new army with the rank of sergeant. In 1962, he attended the Camp Alpha officer's school in Conakry. Soon after, he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion artillery-training center in Kindia. On 1 July 1963, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant. This was followed two years later by another promotion from Second Lieutenant to Lieutenant. On 22 November 1970, Portuguese military together with Guinean dissidents invaded the country from Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) in an apparent attempt to overthrow the government of President Ahmed Sékou Touré and destroy PAIGC guerillas. For his service to the nation, he was promoted to the rank of Captain on 27 February 1971. In 1973, he was named commander of the Boké operational zone (in Northwestern Guinea) to assist the pro-independence guerrilla movement, African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) in neighboring Portuguese Guinea. On 10 May 1975, he was named assistant Chief of Staff of the army.

Cellou Dalein Diallo (born February 3, 1952) is a Guinean economist and politician who was Prime Minister of Guinea from 2004 to 2006. Currently he is President of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), an opposition party.

Diallo, a member of the Fula ethnic group, was born in Labé. He studied at the University of Conakry and the Center for Financial, Economic and Banking Studies in Paris, and in 1976 he became an inspector of trade. He began working at the Bank of Foreign Trade of Guinea in 1982, and from 1985 to 1995 he worked at the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea.

After briefly working at the Administration and Control of Great Projects (l’Administration et Contrôle des Grands Projets, ACGP), Diallo joined the government in July 1996 as Minister of Transport, Telecommunications and Tourism. He was subsequently moved to the position of Minister of Infrastructure in October 1997, where he remained until he was appointed as Minister of Public Works and Transport on March 12, 1999. After UTA Flight 141, a flight from Guinea, crashed in Cotonou, Benin in December 2003, Diallo said that there was no proof that his ministry had been neglectful of safety and that he would not resign. Diallo served for five years as Minister of Public Works and Transport before being moved to the position of Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture on February 23, 2004.