Yearbook 2002
Equatorial Guinea. In March, the government accused the opposition of planning a coup. Several hundred people were arrested and tortured and three leading opposition politicians were reported to have been killed. In June, 68 people were sentenced to prison for between 6 and 20 years. Amnesty International criticized the UN Human Rights Commission for calling it its special envoy, citing Equatorial Guinea’s “significant progress” in the human rights field.
After silencing the opposition, in December, Obiang allowed himself to be re-elected as president for seven years, with virtually all votes. The opposing candidates protested in vain against cheating and total lack of voting secrecy.
According to Countryaah website, national day of Equatorial Guinea is every October 12. Increased contradictions in Equatorial Guinea are partly due to the uneven distribution of the country’s sudden wealth. Equatorial Guinea has in a few years developed into one of Africa’s largest oil producers and the fourth largest recipient of US investment in sub-Saharan Africa. The growth rate in the economy was 65% in 2001.
The population has doubled by moving in to over one million in seven years. Similarly, the proportion of HIV-infected people has more than doubled from 3 to just over 7% in five years.
History. – At the end of the 1970s, GE, which appeared economically prosperous and politically balanced at the time of independence (1968), was close to collapse. Production destined for export (wood, cocoa, coffee) was stagnating and the entire economic system of the country was heavily affected by the effects of the flight abroad of about a quarter of the population, including almost all intellectuals. The political climate was made leaden by the brutal dictatorship established by F. Macías Nguema, head of state since independence. In this panorama, made even more desolate by the break with Spain and the West and not adequately compensated by massive Soviet aid, on 3 August 1979 a coup d’etat brought the Deputy Defense Minister T.
The latter, belonging to the same clan as the overthrown dictator (and shortly afterwards executed “for crimes against humanity”), placed himself at the command of a supreme military council, launched some measures aimed at revitalizing the country in every sense. A regular state budget was drawn up as had not happened for five years; radio broadcasts were reactivated; numerous appeals were made to the refugees to return home to contribute to the economic recovery. On the international level, the new regime eased its ties with the USSR to open up to the Western camp. In this context, GE has become the scene of a strong Franco-Spanish antagonism. One of the major successes in Paris was the GE’s adhesion to the franc currency area (January 1, 1985);
If on the economic level the work of President Obiang Nguema (confirmed plebiscitantly to the supreme office for a new seven-year period in the elections of June 1989) has produced some positive effects, the political balance is less rosy. The ” democratic ” turning point implemented by the new regime has never convinced the opposition which, in fact, gathered in various groups, continue to operate outside the country. Thus the new constitution, approved by the popular referendum of August 15, 1982, was criticized by many not only because it reserves excessive power to the head of state, but above all because it does not set a precise date for the restoration of a civil regime. In fact, albeit with some ” democratic ” adjustments, Obiang Nguema has kept the
In this situation of permanent blockade of the transition to democracy, an attempted coup d’etat led by E. Abeso Mundu (shot the following month) took place between 19 and 20 July 1986. It was an event which, although rapidly repressed, however, further highlighted the permanent political and institutional fragility of the Guinean regime.
In June 1989 Obiang Nguema was plebiscitically confirmed as president for a new seven-year term. Despite his cautious openings in domestic politics (appealing to dissidents to return to their homeland, promulgation of an amnesty for political prisoners), the oppositions continued to press for the introduction of a multi-party system, and in May 1990 he was constituted in Madrid a new opposition party, the Social Democratic Party, led by M. Mangue Mba. In December of the same year, thirty people, including the Speaker of the House, the President of the Supreme Court and the Minister of Defense, were imprisoned for having requested the establishment of a democratic system.
In January 1992, Obiang Nguema launched a transitional government as a prerequisite for the introduction of multi-partyism.
