Washington, D.C. — On a week long "personal" visit to the United States, Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is telling everyone who will listen that his nation needs a US embassy.
"The lack of a United States diplomatic presence is definitely holding back economic growth," the president said, speaking to reporters at a Monday morning Freedom Forum breakfast. "I am trying to make the US administration understand that they should participate in Equatorial Guinea. There are many US citizens there."
Wedged between Cameroon and Gabon, the small, central African nation was considered one of poorest and one of the most brutal on the continent during the regime of Francisco Macias Nguema who took power in 1971. Obiang overthrew him in 1979 but charges of corruption, mismanagement and authoritarian abuse have been continuously leveled at his regime. Equatorial Guinea was the focus of Robert Klitgaard's 1997 book, "Tropical Gangsters."
Since then, however, great deposits of offshore oil have been discovered and production that began in 1995 could open the way to a brighter future. "The Kuwait of Africa" is a name attached to Equatorial Guinea these days.
The president says they are making careful plans about what to do with the newfound wealth. "About three or four years ago we became an oil-producing country. In order to avoid making the same mistakes as other countries, the first thing the government did was to hold an economic conference where we planned what sectors would receive economic investment."
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Equatorial Guinea continues to receive harsh criticism for human rights violations. "The government's human rights record remains poor," the U.S. State Department declared in its latest report on human rights practices. Obiang's government has "continued to commit numerous abuses," the agency said, citing torture, beatings, imprisonment of political dissidents and restrictions on press freedom, freedom of movement and association.
In response, Obiang said: "The report... does not coincide with reality." His country has thirteen political parties now, Obiang says, and "we are consolidating democratization throughout the country."
Obiang called the State Department report biased and outdated: "Like any society there can be excesses of behavior from some people in authority," he said, "but my government is taking steps against any human rights abuses."
Obiang said the report was the work of one man but did not say who that one man might be. At the embassy of Equatorial Guinea in Washington DC, First Secretary Sisinio Mbana explained: "We got the impression from reading it that it was the work of one man. There was no real information in it about Equatorial Guinea today. Those were old stories from people who are not in the country."
And that, along with oil, is why the United States needs an embassy in his country, Mbana says. "Oil is bringing American companies to our country. American companies are helping us more than the governments of France and Spain, yet there is no US embassy. If they have one, they can better monitor human rights."
Related: President Obiang's 1999 interview with Africa News Service
