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African Regime Accused of
Rampant Corruption Allegedly Stiffed D.C.
Lobbyist |
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A
complaint
filed in
Washington
federal
district
court
last
Friday
accuses
the
government
of the
Republic
of
Equatorial
Guinea
of
stiffing
Lanny J.
Davis &
Associates
out of
almost
$142,000
for
out-of-pocket
legal
services.
In
February
2010,
the West
African
government
signed a
contract
with
McDermott
Will &
Emery
for
assistance
in
“instituting
comprehensive
political,
legal
and
economic
reforms,”
according
to the
complaint
(PDF).
The lead
attorney
was
Lanny
Davis,
who was
a
McDermott
partner
at the
time.
Under
the
contract,
Equatorial
Guinea
agreed
to pay
just
over $2
million
for
legal
services
in four
installments,
from
March
2010
through
September
2011.When
Davis
left
McDermott
in April
2010 to
start
his own
firm, he
took the
Equatorial
Guinea
contract
with him.
According
to the
complaint,
Davis
assisted
President
Teodoro
Obiang
Nguema
Mbasogo
with a
draft of
a public
address
delivered
June 22,
2010. In
the
speech,
Obiang
committed
to
“reforms
in the
areas of
resource
management,
social
and
economic
development,
legal
institutions,
relations
with
human
rights
organizations
(including
the Red
Cross),
and
environmental
conservation.”
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Equatorial
Guinea: Where oppression still reigns |
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Johannesburg (South Africa) - Over the past year, the
world has watched with great interest as the Arab Spring
has dissolved decades of repression. Citizens weary of
injustice have stood up and demanded control of their
destinies. I wish that oppressed people everywhere in
Africa could benefit from the dramatic changes we are
witnessing in North Africa.
The people of Equatorial Guinea, for instance, an oil-rich
country home to the continent´s |
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longest-ruling leader,
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, have endured decades of
repression, and many remain mired in poverty despite the
country´s considerable natural resource wealth. Torture,
extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and
harassment of journalists and civil society groups have
been well documented by the United Nations and other
sources. |
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Equatorial
Guinea executions over coup plot condemned |
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Obiang
Nguema has survived several coup attempts
The execution of four men in
Equatorial Guinea for involvement in an
attack on the presidential palace last year
has been condemned by a rights group.Amnesty
International says the men, former military
and government officials, were put to death
within an hour of being sentenced.They were
convicted by an army tribunal on Saturday,
with no chance of appeal.Amnesty says the
men were living in exile in Benin at the
time of the attempted presidential
assassination.President Teodoro Obiang
Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich nation
since 1979 after toppling his uncle in a
coup, has survived several coup attempts.The
most infamous was in 2004, involving former
British mercenary Simon Mann, who was
pardoned by Equatorial Guinea's leader last
year. |
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4 executed in Equatorial Guinea coup plot |
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Equatorial
Guinea´s government on Tuesday defended the
execution of four alleged coup plotters just
an hour after they were condemned in a case
that Amnesty International called a
”pretense of justice.”The main opposition
coalition described the executions as
”political assassinations.”
The government of the oil-rich but
impoverished Central African nation said in
a statement that the former military and
government officials were given a fair trial
in open court. Two colonels defended them
before a military tribunal, the government
said on its website.
The four were convicted Saturday of
terrorism, high treason, attempting to
assassinate the head of state and to
overthrow the government.
Others tried in the plot received jail
sentences ranging from one to 20 years.
Amnesty International said the four men were
abducted by Guinean security forces in
January from neighboring Benin, where they
had been living in exile for years,
including during the Feb. 11, 2009 attack
for which they were convicted. |
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Conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity |
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Africa抯
biodiversity holds an ernomous potential of
transforming the continent抯 agricultural and
industrial systems to contribute to economic
growth and poverty reduction. The unique
species of plants and animals as well as
ecosystems constitute the continent抯 natural
wealth. However, this diversity is
underutilized and is being lost at alarming
rates. Conserving and promoting sustainable
use of biodiversity is one of the challenges
that African countries have committed
themselves to addressing. |
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Rights group
slams Equatorial Guinea leader’s pledges of
reforms in transparency, human rights |
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The
longtime leader of Equatorial Guinea
pledged Monday to make sweeping reforms
in transparency and human rights in the
country he has ruled for three decades.
But an international rights group called
it empty posturing from a corrupt leader
intent on attracting investors.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema told a meeting of
investors and business leaders in |
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Cape Town that
his five-point plan will dramatically change
conditions in the West African country,
which is regularly criticized for its
corruption, poor human rights record and
grinding poverty despite its tremendous oil
wealth.Obiang said the 10-year plan includes
investing “substantial” oil revenues in
public projects such as schools, hospitals
and infrastructure. He said he also will
invite the African Union to review and
suggest reforms for the legal system and
will bring in the Red Cross to assess the
human rights situation.He said he hopes the plan will “invite
investors from across the globe to consider
the exciting possibilities with us.” He
spoke in Spanish while reading from a
prepared statement. |
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Controversy over
Equatorial Guinea’s $121 million
compensation for Nigerians |
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The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs feels constrained,
following the article on the above
subject matter which was published in
the Punch of Monday 14 June, 2010
edition, to issue this rejoinder, to
correct the facts which have been
largely misrepresented in the news
report.
It is important to state that contrary
to the charges of indifference levelled
against officials in the Ministry and in
the Mission in Malabo – Equatorial
Guinea – over the plight of our
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citizens,
the Nigerian government has been fully
seized with the matter since the news
first broke in February, 2009. Aside
from the visit by the then Foreign
Minister,Ojo Maduekwe, CFR, to Malabo
on 26th February, 2009, as Special Envoy
of President Umaru Musa Yar‘Adua; the
follow-up visit of the then Hon.
Minister of State II for Foreign Affairs,
Ambassador Bagudu Hirse, on the 7th of
August, 2009; and the Joint Commission
meetings in Abuja, from August 31-01
Septemeber, 2009, provided opportunities
for fruitful consultations with the
Equatorial Guinean authorities, which
finally led to the release of many
Nigerians from Equatorial Guinean
prisons, including the release of 55
crewmen of seven (7) canoes that were
confiscated by the Guinean authorities.
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African Human Rights Defenders or Colonialists? Seeking Justice in
Equatorial Guinea |
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“Some of us are in exile today because the government of Teodoro Obiang
Nguema unjustly persecuted, arbitrarily detained, threatened directly or
indirectly, or denied us entry into Equatorial Guinea. Others remain in exile
because of pending judgments against us, entered during our absence from
Equatorial Guinea, for expressing our political views or denouncing the
government’s human rights record. In short, under the current regime there are
no freedoms of expression, association, or assembly in Equatorial Guinea.”They argue that, in this context, the prize amounts to international
endorsement of Obiang’s systematic political repression, his deprivation of the
most basic needs of his people, and his blatant use of public funds for personal
gain. They believe the funds should be used instead “for the purchase of books,
benches, and other such rudimentary educational materials” for students in
Equatorial Guinea, in the hopes that the country may one day produce scientists
and other professionals capable of becoming future recipients of international
prizes. Their move has garnered international attention, receiving support
from over 35 nongovernmental organizations and from hundreds of scientists,
journalists, scholars, and others
asking UNESCO to cancel the prize. |
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Freedom in the
World. |
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2009 Key
Developments: Spanish authorities
launched an investigation into
alleged money laundering by
Equatorial Guinea’s government in
January 2009, and in February
unidentified gunmen attacked the
presidential palace, prompting the
authorities to deny speculation that
the incident was a coup attempt.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema
Mbasogo, the longest-serving ruler
in sub-Saharan Africa, easily won a
new term in the November
presidential election, which was
widely regarded as rigged.
Political Rights:Equatorial
Guinea is not an electoral
democracy and has never held
credible elections. President Obiang
dominates the political system. The
100 members of the unicameral House
of People’s Representatives wield
little power, and 99 seats belong to
the ruling pro-presidential
coalition. The activities of the few
opposition parties are closely
monitored by the government. Obiang
denies that a 2009 attack on the
presidential palace was a coup
attempt, although several opposition
members were subsequently arrested.
Equatorial Guinea is considered one
of the most corrupt countries in the
world, and Obiang and members of his
inner circle continue to amass huge
personal profits from the country’s
oil windfall.
Civil Liberties: Although the
constitution guarantees press
freedom, |
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EITI Board agrees
status of 20 countries |
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The
Board of the
Extractive
Industries
Transparency
Initiative, the
international
standard for
improved
transparency in
countries’
natural resource
sector, met in
Berlin 15-16
April. The Board
discussed the
request of 17 of
the 32 countries
currently
implementing the
EITI to extend
their deadline
for completing
EITI Validation.
In addition, Sao
Tome and
Principe had
applied to
voluntarily
suspend their
EITI Candidate
status. The
EITI Board has
considered these
applications on
a case by case
basis in
accordance with
the EITI rules.
An extension of
the Validation
deadline is
granted only if
the country
demonstrates
that exceptional
and
unforeseeable
circumstances
outside the
country’s
control. Having
considered the
merits of each
applications,
the Board agreed
to grant
extensions to 16
countries[1].
It agreed new
deadlines in
each case. The
Board did not
approve the
request for an
extension of the
deadline from
Equatorial
Guinea.
Sao Tome
and Principe’s
application for
a voluntary
suspension was
not approved. As
a consequence of
these decisions,
these countries
are no longer
considered
implementing (EITI
Candidate)
countries. Both
countries are
welcome to
reapply to
become EITI
candidate
countries once
the barriers to
effective
implementation
have been
addressed.The
EITI Chairman,
Peter Eigen,
made the
following
comment:
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Keeping
Foreign Corruption Out of the United States: Four Case
Histories |
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Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has
scheduled a hearing, ”Keeping Foreign Corruption Out of
the United States: Four Case Histories,” on Thursday,
February 4, 2010, at 9:30 a.m., in Room 342 of the
Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The Subcommittee hearing will examine how some
politically powerful foreign officials, their relatives,
or close associates – referred to in international
agreements as “Politically Exposed Persons” or PEPs –
have used the services of U.S. professionals and U.S.
financial institutions to bring millions of dollars in
suspect funds into the United States to advance their
interests. Four case histories will illustrate how some
PEPs have used U.S. lawyers, realtors, escrow agents,
lobbyists, bankers, and others to circumvent U.S.
anti-money laundering and anti-corruption safeguards. It
will also look at how some U.S. professionals have
actively helped PEPs avoid bank scrutiny or facilitated
suspect transactions with no questions asked.
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Human Rights Watch |
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Conditions in
Equatorial Guinea cast serious doubt about the
credibility of the forthcoming presidential
election,
Human Rights Watch
said
today.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has
ruled the oil-rich West African country since
seizing power in a coup in 1979, is widely
expected to easily win the presidential vote
scheduled for November 29, 2009.
"President Obiang
claims that he's committed to the rule of law,"
said Arvind Ganesan, director of the Business
and Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.
"But his actions time and again are those of a
dictator determined to hang onto power and
control of the country's oil money."
There are
indications that visas might be
restricted again this year. In mid-November,
while speaking at an oil and gas
conference in London, the vice minister
of mines, industry and energy announced
that the government was instituting a
new visa regime "to defend Equatorial
Guinea" from "people without good
intentions.
See full report
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TO
SUCCEED IN YOUR PROJECT AND/OR ENTERPRISE
IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA, AFRICA & MADAGASCAR
WELCOME TO
MADESTA
INTERNATIONAL
A
COMPLETE ASSISTANCE |
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Equatorial Guinea:One-Man Rule in Equatorial
Guinea |
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Equatorial Guinea, a
geographical speck on the landscape of Africa,
is surely one of the sad stories of the
continent. The late President Masie Nguema
Biyogo, the uncle of the present dictator,
remains one of the worst tyrants ever produced
by Africa. His 11-year reign in Equatorial
Guinea was characterized by brutal massacres and
horrifying atrocities against his
compatriots.For instance, about 150 alleged coup
plotters were executed at the national stadium
on December 25, 1975 with the killings
accompanied by the sound of a band playing Mary
Hopkin's tune, **Those Were The Days**! An
estimated 7,000 Europeans were said to have
emigrated from a country of about 300,000
population, while about 45,000 Nigerians were
evacuated in 1976. In all, between September
1968 when Nguema Biyogo was inaugurated as
president and August 1979 when he was overthrown,
an estimated 80,000 citizens were reported to
have been killed by the regime with about one-fourth
of that number fleeing into exile.
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See
More Documents and Resources» |
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Equatorial Guinea:President Confident of
Electoral Landslide |
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So confident is
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of the
outcome of Equatorial Guinea's election on
Sunday that he expects to win by the same
margin as in 2002 - with 97.1 percent of the
vote, reports Le Pays of Ouagadougou.
The
newspaper also reports that Obiang
Nguema, who came to power in a coup
in 1979, could very possibly achieve
his objective, since the only
opposition leader in the country's
parliament, Plácido Micó Abogo, is
not strong enough to provide a real
challenge to the ruling
party.Moreover, says the paper, all
state power is concerntrated in the
hands of the president and his ,
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associates who will do
everything to make sure he gets re-elected. |
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Topical Focus Pages: Equatorial
Guinea |
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Zimbabwe:
Equatorial
Guinea Joins Cholera Fight
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EQUATORIAL GUINEA has donated a
consignment of 57 tonnes of drugs and water treatment
chemicals to Zimbabwe to assist in the fight against
cholera.Equatorial Guinea Deputy Foreign Minister Mr
Jose Esono Micha handed the first 40 tonnes
of the consignment to Health and Child
Welfare Deputy Minister Dr Douglas
Mombeshora and the ministry's permanent
secretary, Dr Gerald Gwinji, at Harare
International Airport yesterday.Mr Micha --
who earlier paid a courtesy call on
President Mugabe at Zimbabwe House and
delivered a special |
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message from President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo -- flew into
Harare with the consignment yesterday. He said
after reports that Zimbabwe had been hit by a
cholera outbreak, Equatorial Guinea felt obliged
to assist Harare as a friend
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Nigeria:
Maduekwe
Visits Equatorial Guinea Over Attack
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Nigeria 's Foreign Affairs Minister
Ojo Maduekwe during the week visited President Theodore
Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea over the recent attack on
the presidential palace in Malabo. |
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Central Africa:
Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea Border Sealed
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Maritime
transactions between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea have
reportedly been halted since Tuesday, February 17,
following attacks by unidentified armed men at President
Obiang Nguema's Presidential lodge in the capital city
of Malabo. |
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Nigeria Says Delta
Militants May Have Been Involved in Equatorial Guinea
Attackk
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Nigerian
Foreign
Minister
Niger
Delta may have been behind Tuesday's attack on
Equatorial
Guinea's presidential palace. Foreign...
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CAF
officials lament shoddy services at AWC |
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There
seems to be no end in sight to the poor
organization, which has characterised the
sixth edition of the African Women
Championship (AWC) currently going on in two
centers in Equatorial Guinea.Ever
since the commencement of the championship
last Saturday, there have been complaints of
poor organisation from players and officials
of the visiting teams, especially in the
areas of transportation, feeding and
accreditation. |
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All
journalists covering the championship have equally been
subjected to various degrees of hardship, as they were
denied such services as accreditation, the use of media
center, mixed zone and press tribune. |
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Sheba hospital suspected of selling know-how to foreign
countries |
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The Health
Ministry became aware of Sheba's extensive ties with
hospitals abroad years after they had begun, according
to documents, letters and memorandums shown to Haaretz.
On December 10, 2007, the deputy director general of
Sheba Medical Center, Dr. Yitzhak Zeidis, detailed the
hospital's activities abroad to Prof. Israeli. According
to Zeidis, the hospital had then ceased training doctors
and nurses for the hospital in Equatorial Guinea.
However, Zeidis told Israeli that Sheba was still
involved in training medical staff and providing
expertise on building hospitals and laboratories to
several countries such as Kazakhstan, the Ivory Coast,
Russia and China. In addition, he said that Sheba
medical staff was in talks regarding providing expertise
to hospitals in Georgia, Ukraine, Hungary, China and
India. |
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US
trains Cameroon, Guinea military |
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The
US Navy has trained Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea Navy and
Air Force Officers in Search and Rescue Operations. The
exercise is to help Cameroon's Air Force and Navy
officers ability to jointly conduct search and rescue
operations while working with a US Navy P-3 Orion
maritime surveillance aircraft. Search and
Rescue (SAR) classes were given to Cameroon Navy and Air
Force officers at Douala Air Force Base. The SAR mission
flew over |
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Cameroon waters with the
country’s Air Force and Navy riders on board the P-3.At
the end of the exercise, the armed forces of Cameroon
honed their ability to locate a vessel in distress and
rescue survivors utilising a combination of search
aircraft, rescue vessels and their newly fielded
Automatic Identification System (AIS). |
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Dear
Mr. President BUSH |
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I am deeply
concerned that aforementioned statements and actions by you and high
ranking administration officials directly contradict the policy you
articulated in your second inaugural address when you said that the
United States will encourage reform in other governments by making
clear that success in our relation "will require the decent
treatment of their own people." |
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The
government of Equatorial Guinea has an abysmal track
record in the area of human rights, democracy and
transparency. According to this year's Country Reports
on Human Rights, "(t)he government's human rights record
remained poor, and the government continues to commit or
condone serious abuses," including torture by |
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the
security forces, abridgement of citizens' right to
change their government, government and judicial
corruption, and severe restrictions on freedom of the
press.
President Obiang, who took over Equatorial Guinea in a
coup in 1979, has never stood for free and fair
elections. The State Department found that "(t)he 2002
presidential election was marred by extensive fraud and
intimidation," and "the international community widely
criticized the 2004 parliamentary elections as seriously
flawed." |
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