I bet you are thinking: Robert Mugabe. If so, you would be wrong. Do not consider this in any way a defense of the loathsome Mugabe regime, run by a man who cares only about personal power while the people suffer immensely. Zimbabwe is a true humanitarian tragedy. But no, the man I am talking about is Teodoro Obiang, the ruler of Equatorial Guinea.
Obiang, who has been in power in this small country since 1979, runs a thuggish dictatorship where dissent is non-existent. Murder, torture, and corruption are the routine tools of power. Somewhat clownishly, he has declared himself a “god”, who is “in permanent contact with the Almighty.” But the implication of this is anything but amusing– according to a presidential spokesman, “he can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to hell because it is God himself, with whom he is in permanent contact, and who gives him this strength.” There is no Equatorial Morgan Tsvangirai, because he would have been killed immediately. There is no opposition. Reporter Peter Maass notes the docility of the people, unusual by African standards, evidence that they live in fear, matched only by experiences in North Korea. A few years back, the US ambassador to Equatorial Guinea received a death threat and had to be evacuated.
Given this situation, one would expect that the US was strongly condemning Obiang, pushing for democracy (remember Bush’s second inaugural speech?), and calling for sanctions. If so, one would be wrong. You see, Equatorial Guinea is awash in off-shore oil. ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Chevron, and other companies have invested more than $10 billion in this country. This oil bonanza has had no impact whatsoever on the people, who remain as poor and unhealthy as ever. Instead, Obiang siphoned off the money and continues to hoard it in a personal account at Riggs Bank in Washington DC.
And the US turns a blind eye. Not only is his record ignored, but Condi Rice once referred to Obiang as a “good friend.” And US embassy leases its building in Malabo from a man accused of torture. This is truly a case of “blood for oil”. And it is shameful and deeply hypocritical.
Wow… Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I was completely unaware of this. I would’ve definitely answered “Mugabe”, but the fact that there is no Tsvangirai or no opposition per se puts things in perspective…
Africa is indeed the forgotten continent :-/ I can only hope that Pope Benedict will address Africa in his upcoming encyclical.
MM
I see some accounts say that a Federal Court fined a bank in the US which dealt with him/ that an overarching context is that China is signing contract after contract in the third world for exclusive oil contracts/ and that a Jerusalem based think tank had determined that African oil is a partial solution to Islamic control of oil/ and that his rule lacks the atrocities of the uncle he replaced/ and one account says that he is Catholic and that these last two Popes invited him to the Vatican. In short it could be the nuanced dealing with the only lemon in town….and for security concerns more than economic….whether by the US or by the vatican (for which see wiki and http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=41170 ).
And the US turns a blind eye. Not only is his record ignored, but Condi Rice once referred to Obiang as a “good friend.”
It’s a familiar story by now, isn’t it? :)
Hastings Kamuzu Banda was a vicious dictator in Malawi from its time of independence until finally relinquishing power in free elections in the early `90s. While Malawi doesn´t have any mineral deposits, Banda was supported by the U.S. as a ally against communist Mozambique and socialist-leaning Zimbabwe.
It´s the same story over and over and over again.
Ah, Banda, I remember him. His rule was unique in that he claimed everything in Malawi belonged to him personally.