Reply #5: Profile: Equatorial Guinea's great survivor

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President Obiang is serving a third seven-year term


Last Updated: Wednesday, 17 March, 2004, 09:50 GMT


Profile: Equatorial Guinea's great survivor

By Nicholas Shaxson
Journalist specialising in the Gulf of Guinea countries

This, he said simply, was a state secret. He did not have to tell anyone where it had gone.

Family ties

President Obiang has put close family in the key positions of power and local politics has recently been dominated by tensions between his son Teodorin, and other close relatives with powerful positions in the security forces.

Perhaps oil has given him a new source of strength that enables him to rely less on the family than before.

This shift, some say, may have stoked anger in his clan.

The thwarting of the latest apparent coup attempt has preserved his position for now, but the family tensions still simmer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516588.stm



The benefits of oil have been slow to trickle down