Within hours of arriving in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s capital, visitors are likely to be followed by informers, stopped by the army and arrested by police, who will strip the film from their cameras, follow them to their hotel, question their motives for being in the country, demand permits and interrogate anyone they have talked to.
Since the alleged coup attempt in March, Equatorial Guinea — population 510 000 — has become one of Africa’s most paranoid and xenophobic countries.
Effectively a military state on permanent red alert, it has been run for 25 years as a semi-dictatorship by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who is convinced that Western powers, neighbouring states and some of those closest to him are plotting to topple him and seize the country’s vast oil wealth.
The linking of Mark Thatcher with the alleged coup bid only confirms Obiang’s belief that privileged westerners are plotting against him.
The country, so poor after independence from Spain in 1968 that it reputedly offered to let Cameroon govern it for $1-million, is now one of the fastest-growing in the world.
Exxon is exporting nearly 300 000 barrels of oil a day to the United States and Marathon is investing $3-billion in one of the world’s largest gas plants.
Obiang, say his opponents, will reign only as long as the West and its companies want him to.
The question of where the oil money is going is becoming embarrassing to the president. Oil and gas should already be benefiting the country by at least $2-billion a year. But there is little evidence that anyone but Obiang, his family and a small clique of advisers, officials and security chiefs are benefiting.
There are no public accounts of payments made by the oil companies, and, although those closest to Obiang claim $400-million a year is being spent on health, housing and education, the vast majority of the people are uneducated and live in slums.
Businessmen and Obiang’s opponents say no business can operate without paying large amounts to the offshore accounts of the president and his coterie, who also demand shares in businesses. Obiang claims the accounts are open and transparent. — Â