Equatorial Guinea
Composed of a mainland portion and five inhabited islands, Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by ruthless leaders who have badly mismanaged the economy since independence from 190 years of Spanish rule in 1968. Although nominally a constitutional democracy since 1991, subsequent elections have been widely viewed as flawed.
Equatorial Guinea has seen an economic oil boom in recent years, raising the average per capita income from less than US$370 in 1995 to US$2000 in 2000.
Equatorial Guinea's leader, Brig. Gen. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, came to power in a 1979 coup and pledged to restore human rights, resume economic development of the country, and reestablish good relations with traditionally friendly nations. His regime is generally considered corrupt, however, and there is an enormous economic gap between the ruling oligarchy (essentially the President's clan) and the rest of the population.
Regional relations have been strained over maritime border demarcation, which determines countries' rights to offshore oil deposits. In September 2000, it was announced that Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria had signed a pact delineating their maritime boundaries. The agreement was reached following bilateral meetings held in Nigeria's capital of Abuja. President Obiang and President Obasanjo of Nigeria signed the agreement during Obasanjo's visit to Equatorial Guinea in September 2000. One of the key provisions of the agreement is Nigeria's recognition of Equatorial Guinea's sovereignty over the rich Zafiro field.
Corruption is the security issue that affects travelers most often. It is commonplace among civil servants, government officials and security officers. Civil servants are undisciplined and often avaricious, and nepotism is rampant in this sector. Successful enterprises mostly belong to government officials and their family members.
The power supply is unreliable; power outages can give rise to opportunistic crime.
Foreign citizens are subject to local laws and resulting penalties, even if they unknowingly break the law. There are periodic reports of foreign travelers having been intimidated and even arrested without cause by overzealous security officials in many parts of the country. Special permits for photography are available, but even so, photography can lead to harassment by security officers, especially near ports, airports, and military installations.
Three branches of security forces are present in the country: the military, the police force, and the Moroccan Presidential Guard, who are devoted to protecting the President, who does not trust his own security forces. Responsibility for policing is divided between the police force in urban centers, and the gendarmes outside the cities and during special events within cities. Both are under the control of the Ministry of Interior.
Should you become a victim of crime, contact your embassy; expatriate residents are hard pressed to say whether the poorly-trained, poorly-equipped police force is a help or hindrance. Police often harass foreigners from neighboring countries, but employees of foreign oil companies and expatriate religious workers are not immune either. In August 2003, police arrested and detained for two hours two expatriates and demanded that they pay US$100,000 (50 million CFA francs) to settle a dispute between their company and the Labor Ministry. The detainees were not permitted to contact their embassies or lawyers. Harassment of foreign religious workers ranges from demands for special documents and fees when entering the country to imprisonment. Harassment, imprisonment and torture of Equatoguinean opposition members is the norm. There are seldom reports of political killings, but in recent years, security forces have killed several persons through abuse and excessive force. In one incident, border guards in Bata shot and killed a Spanish aid worker when firing at a bus that pulled away from a roadblock.
Roadblocks are common, officially to control dissidents' travel, but mainly to line the pockets of security officers. Officers pull over vehicles (sometimes on pretexts as flimsy as driving a dirty car) and ask to see identity papers, visas, driver's licenses, registration papers, and immunization records. Failure to produce documents on request can lead to detention. The number of roadblocks increases during the holiday season. Security officers are poorly trained, corrupt and able to act with impunity. Be polite and compliant at roadblocks. If you do not speak Spanish, keep on your person a document, written in Spanish, that explains your presence in the country and details your itinerary.
In response to the recent trial of alleged coup suspects (many of whom were South Africans), there was an increase in military checkpoints and presence within Malabo. In addition, there was heightened hostility toward South Africans. In one incident, when two construction workers were injured in accidents, they had to be helicoptered to Cameroon because a South African medical rescue aircraft was refused landing rights. At the airport, South Africans have been pulled out of lines and quizzed by security officers about their intentions.
Bear in mind that the country is in the grip of a dictatorship. Do not criticize the president or his family (which runs the country), or place another person in a position to do so. Informers are common. Government officials and soldiers can be overly sensitive about any perceived criticism of the regime.
Although the oil boom revolutionized the economy, it gave fresh impetus to the separatist Movement for the Self-Determination of Bioko Island. It has also intensified the rivalry between the dominant Fang community, which originates from the mainland, and the minority Bubi natives of Bioko. These tensions, however, do not affect foreign travelers.
