Equatorial Guinea: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: President Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Head of Government: Prime Minister Ignacio Milam Tang

The 1982 constitution gives the president extensive powers, including naming and dismissing members of the cabinet, making laws by decree, dissolving the Chamber of Representatives, negotiating and ratifying treaties and calling legislative elections. The president retains his role as commander in chief of the armed forces and maintains close supervision of military activity. In June 2004, President Obiang reorganized the cabinet and created two new positions: Minister of National Security and Director of National Forces. The prime minister is appointed by the president and operates under powers designated by the president. The prime minister coordinates government activities.

The Chamber of Representatives is comprised of 100 members elected by direct suffrage for 5-year terms. In practice, the Chamber has not demonstrated independence, and it rarely acts without presidential approval or direction. National assembly elections were held in May 2008; 99 of the 100 seats went to the PDGE. In July 2008, the government appointed a new cabinet, including a new Prime Minister. Following the 2009 presidential election results additional, though minor, changes to the cabinet were made in February 2010.

The president appoints the governors of the seven provinces. Each province is divided administratively into districts and municipalities. The internal administrative system falls under the Ministry of Interior and Territorial Administration; several other ministries are represented at the provincial and district levels.

The judicial system follows similar administrative levels. At the top are the president and his judicial advisors (the Supreme Court). In descending rank are the appeals courts, chief judges for the divisions, and local magistrates. Tribal laws and customs are honored in the formal court system when not in conflict with national law. The current court system, which often uses customary law, is a combination of traditional, civil, and military justice, and it operates in an ad hoc manner for lack of established procedures and experienced judicial personnel.

The other official branch of the government is the State Council. The State Council's main function is to serve as caretaker in case of death or physical incapacity of the president. It comprises the following ex officio members: the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, the President of the national assembly, and the Chairman of the Social and Economic Council.

Although the many abuses and atrocities that characterized the Macias years have been eliminated, the government continues to be dominated by the presidency. Religious freedom is tolerated.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS
In the period following Spain's grant of local autonomy to Equatorial Guinea in 1963, there was a great deal of political party activity. Bubi and Fernandino parties on the island preferred separation from Rio Muni or a loose federation. Ethnically based parties in Rio Muni favored independence for a united country comprising Bioko and Rio Muni, an approach that ultimately won out. (The Movimiento para la Auto-determinacion de la Isla de Bioko (MAIB), which advocates independence for the island under Bubi control, is one of the offshoots of the era immediately preceding independence). After the accession of Macias to power, political activity largely ceased in Equatorial Guinea. Opposition figures who lived among the exile communities in Spain and elsewhere agitated for reforms; some of them had been employed in the Macias and Obiang governments. After political activities in Equatorial Guinea were legalized in the early 1990s, some opposition leaders returned, but repressive actions continued sporadically.

The country's first freely contested municipal elections were held in September 1995. Most observers agree that the elections themselves were relatively free and transparent and that the opposition parties garnered between two-thirds and three-quarters of the total vote. The government, however, delayed announcement of the results and then claimed a highly dubious 52% victory overall and the capture of 19 of 27 municipal councils. In early January 1996 Obiang called for presidential elections. International observers agreed that the campaign was marred by fraud, and most of the opposition candidates withdrew in the final week. Obiang claimed re-election with 98% of the vote. In an attempt to mollify his critics, Obiang gave minor portfolios in his cabinet to people identified as opposition figures. In the legislative election in March 1999, the party increased its majority in the 80-seat parliament from 68 to 75. The main opposition parties refused the seats they had allegedly won. In May 2000, the ruling PDGE overwhelmed its rivals in local elections. Opposition parties rejected the next election, the December 2002 presidential election, as invalid. During this election, President Obiang was re-elected with 97% of the vote. Following his re-election Obiang formed a government based on national unity encompassing all opposition parties, except for the CPDS, which declined to join after Obiang refused to release one of their jailed leaders.

In April 2004, parliamentary and municipal elections took place. President Obiang's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) and allied parties won 98 of 100 seats in parliament and all but seven of 244 municipal posts. International observers criticized both the election and its results.

While President Obiang's rule--in which schools reopened, education and health care expanded, and public utilities and roads were restored--compares favorably with Macias' tyranny and terror, it has been criticized for not implementing genuine democratic reforms. Corruption and a dysfunctional judicial system disrupt the development of Equatorial Guinea's economy and society. In 2004, President Obiang appointed a new Prime Minister, Miguel Abia Biteo, and replaced several ministers; however, the government budget still did not include all revenues and expenditures. The United Nations Development Program proposed a broad governance reform program, but the Equatoguinean Government was not moving rapidly to implement it. In August 2006 a new Prime Minister, Ricardo Mangue, was named and the pace of reform accelerated.

On May 4, 2008, legislative elections resulted in an overwhelming victory for the PDGE. Ninety-nine of the 100 seats in the assembly went to the PDGE while the opposition party, the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), only received one. (This is one less seat than the 2004 elections that granted the CPDS two seats.) Results were similar in the municipal elections held the same day, granting PDGE 319 councilor seats while CPDS only gained 13. International elections observers reported that the elections were generally conducted in a free and fair manner. Nevertheless, irregularities were reported, which included the barring of certain members of the international press.

In May 2002 a special tribunal convicted 68 prisoners and their relatives and sentenced them to 6 to 20 years in prison for an alleged attempted coup d'etat. Among the prisoners were leaders of the three main opposition parties that had remained independent from President Obiang's ruling party. There were numerous irregularities associated with the trial, including evidence of torture and a lack of substantive proof. In August 2003, 31 of these convicted prisoners were granted a presidential amnesty.

In March 2004, Zimbabwean police in Harare impounded a plane from South Africa with 64--mercenaries on board. The group said they were providing security for a mine in Democratic Republic of the Congo, but a couple of days later an Equatorial Guinean minister said they had detained 15 more men who he claimed were the advance party for the group captured in Zimbabwe. Nick du Toit, the leader of the group of South Africans, Armenians, and one German in Equatorial Guinea, said at his trial in Equatorial Guinea that he was playing a limited role in a coup bid organized by Simon Mann, the leader of the group held in Zimbabwe, to remove Obiang from power and install an exiled opposition politician, Severo Moto.

In September 2004, Mann was sentenced to seven years in jail in Zimbabwe after being convicted of illegally trying to buy weapons. In subsequent legal proceedings, three Equatoguineans and three South Africans were acquitted. In June 2005, President Obiang granted amnesty to the six Armenian pilots. In Harare, Mann obtained a reduced sentence based on good behavior in late 2007. Zimbabwe consented to Equatorial Guinea's extradition request and flew Mann to Malabo in early 2008. His trial began in June 2008. During the trial he reportedly confessed to the attempted coup, implicating Severo Moto, Sir Mark Thatcher, and Ely Calil, a nationalized British citizen of Lebanese ancestry with connections to Nigeria. Mann was sentenced in July 2008; he was allowed visits by western media and family members. Mann was pardoned in November 2009, and he returned to the United Kingdom.

On February 17, 2009, gunmen in boats attacked the Presidential Palace in Malabo. Equatorial Guinean security forces successfully repelled the attack, and President Obiang was on the mainland in Bata during this unsuccessful attack. The government accused the Nigerian rebel group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), of carrying out the attack.

Although Equatorial Guinea lacks a well-established democratic tradition, it has broken with the anarchic, chaotic, brutal, and repressive pattern of the Macias years and is slowly improving its human rights and political performance. On June 5, 2008 President Obiang granted amnesty to 37 political prisoners, and the government has indicated a willingness to grant amnesty to other political prisoners. In addition, the country is undertaking an ambitious, multi-billion dollar development program that is improving the quality of life and providing opportunities for employment for its citizens. Equatorial Guinea also is a candidate in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which aims to strengthen governance by improving transparency and accountability in the oil, gas, and minerals sector. As part of its commitment to EITI, Equatorial Guinea published an unprecedented report on payments made by oil companies and revenues received by the government in 2007 and 2008.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
A transitional agreement, signed in October 1968, implemented a Spanish pre-independence decision to assist Equatorial Guinea and provided for the temporary maintenance of Spanish forces there. A dispute with President Macias in 1969 led to a request that all Spanish troops immediately depart, and a large number of civilians left at the same time. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were never broken but were suspended by Spain in March 1977 in the wake of renewed disputes. After Macias' fall in 1979, President Obiang asked for Spanish assistance, and since then, Spain has regained its place of influence in Equatorial Guinea. The two countries signed permanent agreements for economic and technical cooperation, private concessions, and trade relations. Spain maintained a bilateral assistance program in Equatorial Guinea. Most Equatoguinean opposition elements (including a purported government-in-exile) are based in Spain, to the annoyance of the Equatoguinean Government. Relations between the two countries grew difficult after the March 2004 coup attempt due to Spain's hosting opposition figure Severo Moto and the Equatoguinean Government's belief that Spain had foreknowledge of the coup. However, the Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, visited Equatorial Guinea in March 2005, and President Obiang visited Spain in 2007.

Equatorial Guinea has had generally cordial relations with its neighbors. It is a member of the Central African Economic and Monetary Union (CEMAC), which includes Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo/Brazzaville, and Gabon, and of the larger Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS, also known by CEEAC, its French acronym). Equatorial Guinea is part of the central Africa CFA franc zone, and the Cameroon-based Bank of Central African States (BEAC) coordinates monetary policy. At the 10th CEMAC heads of state summit in Bangui in January 2010, Equatoguinean-born Lucas Abaga Nchama was appointed as BEAC governor, following a policy adopted by member states of rotating bank governors in alphabetical order. The Bank of France guarantees the CFA franc, and French technical advisers work in the finance and planning ministries. France, Spain, Cuba, and China have participated in infrastructure and technical development projects.

Relations with the Nigerian Government became cordial as the two countries delineated their offshore borders to facilitate development of nearby gas fields. Equatorial Guinea had a minor border dispute with Cameroon that was resolved by the International Court of Justice in 2002. The Corisco border dispute with Gabon was resolved by an agreement signed with the help of UN mediation in January 2004, but the small island of Mbane and potentially oil-rich waters surrounding it remain contested, and the case was submitted to the International Court of Justice in 2006. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon opened up mediation efforts on June 10, 2008 to facilitate a settlement between the two countries over the disputed island.

The majority Fang ethnic group of mainland Equatorial Guinea extends both north and south into the forests of Cameroon and Gabon. Cameroon exports some food products to Equatorial Guinea and imports oil from Equatorial Guinea for its refinery at nearby Limbe. The development of the oil industry by U.S.-based companies and the lack of a well-trained work force have provided motivation for an influx of English-speaking workers (legal and illegal) from Cameroon, Nigeria, and Ghana. Roundups and expulsion of foreigners following the March 2004 coup attempt caused tensions between these neighbors. A brazen daylight attack on two banks in Bata by two boatloads of armed bandits in December 2007 was presumed to originate in the Niger Delta or neighboring Cameroon, temporarily leading to heightened tensions.

The country is using its oil wealth to expand its overseas presence, establishing diplomatic missions in over 30 countries around the world. It has also become more active in the CEMAC, using the leverage of its growing reserves to gain reforms.

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