Democracy in Equatorial Guinea is key to global fight against authoritarianism

The power struggle between authoritarian powers like Russia and China and Euro-Atlantic liberal democracies led by the EU and the US reached a new level of intensity with the invasion of Ukraine. But it is important to remember that this fight plays out across the entire globe and sometimes in unexpected places, Juan Carlos Ondo Angue writes.

Juan Carlos Ondo Angue is the former president of the Supreme Court, leader-in-exile of the opposition, and president of the Movement of Republicans of Equatorial Guinea. 

The tiny Central African country of Equatorial Guinea is known for two things: its enormous oil reserves and its brutal dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the longest-serving president in history who first seized power from his uncle in 1979.

That was until Equatorial Guinea was thrust into the spotlight as another important frontline in the current global geo-strategic battle for influence. Reports based on US intelligence warned that China plans to establish its first permanent military presence in the Atlantic Ocean in the country.

With a new base on the continent’s western coast, Beijing would pose significant challenges to transatlantic security. This would be China’s second overseas military base in Africa after a naval base in Djibouti was set up in 2017, with a dock reportedly capable of accommodating aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.

Russia, too, has its own military interests in the country. Equatorial Guinea is one of the countries where the Russian government-linked paramilitary organisation Wagner Group operates. Nearly 200 Wagner troops were reported to be involved in protecting Russian military intelligence officials at a base at Pico Basilé.

These links should come as no surprise. The dictatorial regime in Equatorial Guinea has far more in common with the autocratic regimes of Russia and China than with democratic countries.

Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony with a population of 1.4 million, gained independence in 1968 and has been controlled by one family ever since.

Current President Obiang, who assumed office in 1979, has overseen decades of brutal human rights abuses, including numerous killings, leading him to be described as a mass murderer and the “hardest-working dictator in the world”. He has even been accused of cannibalism.

The major source of his wealth comes from huge offshore gas and oil reserves discovered in 1996. Despite having mainland Africa’s third smallest population, Equatorial Guinea boasts the highest GDP per capita due to these vast energy assets. However, almost all the country’s wealth is reserved for the corrupt elites.

The president’s son and heir apparent, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, has faced numerous international corruption charges in recent years, none of which have stopped him from showing off his lavish lifestyle on social media. He has been convicted of embezzlement in France and had assets frozen by the British authorities.

Last month, it emerged that Spain’s national high court is investigating another of the president’s sons, Carmelo Ovono Obiang (who acts as the head of the country’s secret service abroad), alongside other top security officials, for the kidnap and torture of two opposition politicians in 2019, which involved using the president’s jet to fly them from South Sudan to Equatorial Guinea.

November 2022 saw Equatorial Guinea host the latest in a long line of sham elections, which the government claimed the President won with 97% of the vote on a turnout of 98%.

Brazen corruption and brutal violence have broken Equatorial Guinean society. And where international partners have tried to encourage change or distanced themselves from Equatorial Guinea, China and Russia have stepped in.

By 2021, Equatorial Guinea’s debt to China amounted to an estimated 50% of GDP.

China’s attempt to introduce military capabilities within easy access to the US coastline has understandably spooked the US authorities, which scrambled senior national security advisers to try to court Equatorial Guinea’s leadership.

President Obiang was also in attendance at President Biden’s US-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022. This sends a bleak message to democracy activists from Equatorial Guinea, especially as China, which is no stranger to human rights abuses, has the upper hand.

The world’s liberal democracies must not let Obiang continue to play both sides. The world’s longest-surviving dictatorship has been allowed to abuse its country and its people for more than four decades. Now it poses a security risk to Europe, and the US President Obiang is 80 years old, and even dictators cannot live forever.

Change is coming to Equatorial Guinea. It is high time that the European Union and the United States rose to the challenge, actively sanctioning the country’s leadership and supporting urgent democratic transition.