Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Africas Last Absolute Monarchy’ Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (born 5 June 1942) is an Equatoguinean politician who has been President of Equatorial Guinea since 1979. (His son Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue is president in waiting) He ousted his uncle, dictator Francisco Macías Nguema, in an August 1979 military coup and has overseen Equatorial Guineas emergence as an important oil producer, beginning in the 1990s. Equatorial Guinea is one of the continents largest producers of oil. Born into the Esanguii clan in Acoacán, Obiang joined the military during Equatorial Guineas colonial period and attended the Military Academy in Zaragoza, Spain. He achieved the rank of lieutenant after his uncle, Francisco Macías Nguema, was elected the countrys first president. Under Macías, Obiang held various jobs, including governor of Bioko and leader of the National Guard He was also head of Black Beach Prison, notorious for the severe torture meted out to its inmates. After Macías ordered the murders of several members of his own family – including Obiangs brother – Obiang and others in Macías inner circle feared the president had gone insane. Obiang overthrew his uncle on 3 August 1979 in a bloody coup détat and placed him on trial for his activities, including the genocide of the Bubi people, over the previous decade. He was sentenced to death and, on 29 September 1979, executed by firing squad. Obiang declared that the new government would make a fresh start from Macías brutal and repressive regime. He granted amnesty to political prisoners and ended the previous regimes system of forced labor. However, virtually no mention was made of his own role in the atrocities committed under his uncles rule.
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 14:14:48 +0000
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