The Lonely Dictators Club

In my first every post I want to say good luck and chin up to Simon Mann. Only 34 years, 3 months and 28 or so days to go until you’re free again. The heavy sentence was handed down on the 7^th of July for his involvement in the plot to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea in 2004 with alleged backing from Sir Mark Thatcher, son of the former British Prime Minister. As well as Mann, Nick du Toit has already served 4 of a 34 year sentence and the man who would be president under the new regime, government in exile leader Severo Moto Nsá, was given 63 years when tried in abstensia in 2004.

But while world wide attention has focused on these individuals, especially Mann’s long sentence, and the alleged involvement of British Ministers, few have focused on the man at the other end of the coup.

His Excellency Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo came to power in 1979 after a bloody coup that overthrew the ruling President Francisco Macia Nguema. Macia Nguema’s presidency in the post Spanish Colonial days was brutal and corrupt and after his overthrow on the 3^rd of August he was executed on the 29^th of September 1979 at the notorious Black Beach Prison which will now serve as Mann’s and du Toit’s home for the foreseeable future and was also where President Obiang served for a period as governor. So he’s a sentimentalist.

In 1982 Obiang changed the constitution to give the president overwhelming power and was then elected unopposed for a 7 year term and again in 1989. He has ‘won’ two elections since which have been denounced as fraudulent and Moto has claimed he won some of them. While parties were legalised in 1991 most have withdrawn and Equatorial Guinea is now effectively a single party state under Obiangs Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea with only one member of the 100 seat parliament not belonging to it.

In 2003 one of the countries state owned radio stations, controlled by Obiangs son and presumed heir, broadcast that Obiang was “in permanent contact with the Almighty” (I presume this to be God and not Idi Amin). “He can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to hell because it is God himself …who gives him this strength”. He is also alleged to be “like God in heaven” and has “all power over men and things” and made comments similar to these himself in 1993. A good man to have on a table quiz I’d say. Many have commented on the fact that he has had audiences with both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican after making these comments but I don’t see what’s so strange about 2 men who’re in permanent contact with God getting together for a chat. Indeed they should set up some kind of a club.

And what is it that finances all this madness? Possibly it was the oil reserves found offshore in 1996 which have made the county the third-largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Equatorial Guinea produces 360,000 barrels of oil a day and has the ninth highest GDP in the world. But it’s ranked 121^st out of 177 nations in the UN’s Human Development Index and the population suffers widespread poverty.

But Obiang isn’t all bad. The kind and just man that he is, Obiang told the country in 2003 that to prevent corrupt practices amongst his civil servants he felt compelled to take full control of the national treasury. In a completely unrelated matter he then deposited more then half a billion dollars into accounts he and his family controlled at Riggs Bank in Washington D.C. Like I said, I’m sure it’s unrelated.

For now Obiang has again solidified his control over Equatorial Guinea. The attempted Coup was put down before it was even started and his not too distant neighbour Robert Mugabe is taking all the attention away from him. Indeed it is believed that Simon Mann, who had served 4 years in prison in Zimbabwe after his capture there, was extradited to Equatorial Guinea in return for oil. The escapade still hasn’t came to an end though as attempts are now afoot to extradite Ely Calil, a Lebanese living in England for his involvement in financing the plot according to the Zimbabwe Guardian and Obiang is still hoping to extradite Thatcher.

And while Severo Moto Nsá has been recently charged with illegally possessing weapons in Spain where he is in exile, he’ll desperately fight any attempted extradition. In 2004 on Spanish radio Onda Cero he said that Obiang was an “authentic cannibal” who “systematically eats his political rivals.”

“Obiang wants me to go back to Guinea and eat my testicles. That’s clear.”

Also, Condoleezza Rice has described his as a “good friend”….

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.