By Michel ArseneaultPosted on 06-08-2019Modified on 06-08-2019 at 06:23
In 1979, Lieutenant-Colonel Teodoro Obiang Nguema promised "scrupulous" respect for human rights. Forty years later, Equatorial Guinea is certainly criticized by human rights defenders, but by few others.
During his inauguration, President Obiang was given an ebony cane by the highest ranking of the armed forces, the symbol of a power that would assert itself over the decades, especially after the discovery of major deposits. of oil in Equatorial Guinean waters.
Forty years later, it is clear that the world's oldest incumbent president has been able to forget his origins and soften the international community, starting with the United States, whose companies control oil production. As a result, Equatorial Guinea, long been treated as a pariah - a famous American academic has even described it as a " rogue state " - now occupies a seat on the UN Security Council.
The master of Malabo, who only had the word libertad in his mouth in 1979, now runs a country that is not free, according to the American NGO Freedom House . In its ranking, only three African countries are doing worse (Eritrea, South Sudan and Western Sahara).
The Obiang method? Ubiquitous security forces, a public service as loyal as it is bloated and a party in power that reminds in some ways the communist parties of yesteryear. According to Susana Castillo-Rodriguez , researcher at the State University of New York at Geneseo, the " cells " of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) make possible " cross-sectional " surveillance of society. At its peak is the Obiang family, a former US ambassador in Malabo, John Bennett, likened to a " family business " that would have taken over the oil windfall " hundreds of millions of dollars " he says - with the complicity of oil companies in his country.
In addition to President Obiang, this " family business " is composed, among others, of the first lady Constancia Mangue and two sons, Gabriel Mbenga Obiang Lima and Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, respectively Minister of Mines and Petroleum and Vice-President. The latter is also responsible for the security forces, according to the latest report of the US State Department on human rights.
These family relations, far from being hidden, are underlined by a power that plays willingly the card of paternalism. Under the leadership of Teodorin, the youths of the ruling party are called the " Obiang Sons Association ". Its members are called " Associated Brothers " . Their Facebook group has nearly 3,000 members.
Despite his 40 years in power, Obiang Sr. remains popular, according to a European researcher who has been there several times. " Dad is loved by a significant part of the population, " he says. The son is hated. "
His troubles with the justice system in the United States, Brazil and Europe are surely important. In France, Teodorin Nguema Obiang, often called TNO, has even been sentenced to three years in prison and a 30 million euro fine (in both cases suspended) for money laundering, misappropriation of property. public funds, breach of trust and corruption in 2017. The fate of a mansion on Avenue Foch in Paris is the subject of a dispute between France and Equatorial Guinea at the International Court of Justice.
Rights flouted
Counterpowers would, for all intents and purposes, be non-existent. Equatorial Guinea is considered dumb when it comes to freedom of the press. It ranks 165th out of 180 in Reporters Without Borders' 2019 World Press Freedom Index , ahead of only three African countries (Eritrea, Sudan and Djibouti).
The independence of the judiciary, for its part, would be a view of the mind. Juan E. Mendez, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, witnessed in the spring of 2019, in Malabo, the trial of 112 people accused of having been involved in an alleged coup attempt . The trial was marred by " very serious procedural irregularities " and " a flagrant lack of judicial impartiality, " he said in a report for the American Bar Association's Human Rights Center. .
Overall, the human rights situation is " very disturbing, " says Marta Colomer, an Amnesty International campaigner who once denounced the crimes of President Macas. In Teodoro Obiang's Equatorial Guinea, human rights defenders and opponents are harassed, intimidated, even arrested, including for crimes that, in other authoritarian regimes in Africa, would be considered as peccadilloes.
" The police can come to your house for the simple act of criticizing the government on Facebook saying that it gives a bad image of the country," says Marta Colomer. There is a climate, a feeling of collective fear. People are afraid to speak, to protest. "
President Obiang, however, allowed multipartism 28 years ago, and elections were held at almost regular intervals. But the polls have not resulted in any political alternation, even if the electoral scores of the candidate Obiang have gradually and modestly dropped since the 1990s. In the last presidential election, in 2016, he did not get 99% of the votes as he used to do it, but just under 94%. The multi-party system did not allow alternation in the Chamber of Deputies. In the last legislative elections, in 2017, the PDGE and the other formations of the ruling coalition won all but one of the seats.
Oil of all dangers
Since its massive oil exports, that is to say since the late 1990s, Equatorial Guinea has become one of the major oil exporters: it is even the largest exporter in Central Africa after Angola. Its reserves, estimated at over a billion barrels, should provide an oil rent until 2035.
Despite falling crude prices, GDP per capita remained the highest on the continent ($ 10,174 in 2018, according to the World Bank). This windfall has allowed the state to fund important infrastructure projects that benefit a select few, Human Rights Watch said . " Senior government officials are reaping huge profits from public (...) contracts awarded to companies that they own in whole or in part, in many cases in partnership with foreign companies, " the NGO said.
In contrast, Human Rights Watch notes that the Malabo government did not spend more than 3% of its annual budget on health and education in 2008 and 2011 (two years for which data are available). In the end, the mortality rate for children under five is even higher than in Niger: 90 deaths per 1,000 births, according to Unicef.
If the reputation of Equatorial Guinea is not as sulphurous as opponents might believe - Teodoro Obiang was photographed alongside the Obama - is because Malabo has recruited many lobbyists in the United States. In Washington, the Equatorial Guinean government can call on many mouthpieces, including a former adviser to President Clinton (Lanny Davis), two subsidiaries of the French group Publicis (Qorvis Communications, MSL Group Americas), not to mention Cassidy and Associates .
" One can not understand how a corrupt and criminal government was able to win acceptance in Washington and Europe, not to mention the millions of dollars that Orbiang pays to lobbies in Washington, " says Tutu Alicante of the American NGO EG Justice. " The same is true in Spain, where Obiang can count on the support of two former ministers, and in France and the United Kingdom, where he uses law and public relations firms. "
In 2007, a strategic plan from a national economic conference, Equatorial Guinea 2020, set the goal of eradicating poverty " by 2012 ". " In a continent where many richly endowed countries succumbed to the oil curse , the report said, [Equatorial Guinea] wants to show that oil can be a blessing. "
Many Equatorial Guineans who have fled this " strong presidential regime " - as say analysts at the African Development Bank - no longer believe.
Chronology - Equatorial Guinea (1968-2019)
1968: Independence
1979 : President Francisco Macías Nguema lifted by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
1982: Teodoro Obiang appointed head of state for seven years by the Supreme Military Council
1987: Creation of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, single party
1989: Teodoro Obiang elected with 99.99% of the votes
1991: Proclamation of a new constitution authorizing the multiparty system
1992: Equatorial Guinea begins to export its oil
1996: Teodoro Obiang reelected with 97% of the votes
2001: Highest GDP growth in the world (63.3%)
2002: 68 people imprisoned, including the opponent Placido Mico Abogo
2002: Teodoro Obiang reelected with 97.1% of the votes
2004: 15 alleged mercenaries accused of wanting to overthrow regime
2009: Teodoro Obiang reelected with 95.19% of the votes
2011: Adoption of a new constitution limiting the number of presidential terms
2012: Teodoro Obiang reelected with 93.53% of the votes
2014: Teodorin Obiang renounces US $ 30 million worth of property in the United States, authorities claim it was ill-gotten
2017: The Paris Criminal Court sentences Teodorin Obiang to three years suspended sentence in a case of ill-gotten property
2018: Prohibition of the main opposition party, Citizens for Innovation
Tancrede Chambraud
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