Sub Saharan Africa

Equatorial Guinea
Last reviewed: 17 March 2008

Country information

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HISTORY

The island of Bioko was ceded to the Spanish in 1777 by its original Portuguese colonisers. Spain then went on to settle the mainland province of Rio Muni in 1844. In 1904 the 2 territories were united as the Western African Territories and later renamed Spanish Guinea. Spanish Guinea achieved independence from Spain in March 1968 and became the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Following multi-party elections, President Francisco Macías Nguema swiftly established absolute power. A third of the population fled the ensuing repression and the economy collapsed.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema M'basogo, nephew of the President and commander of the National Guard, seized power in a coup in August 1979. Macias was arrested, tried and executed. Obiang has since remained in complete control despite several reported coup attempts and the formal acceptance of the principle of multi-party democracy in 1991. In March 2004, 14 people were arrested in Malabo and 67 in Harare, Zimbabwe for their alleged involvement in an attempted coup to overthrow the Government of Equatorial Guinea. All were tried and convicted in the country in which they were arrested. 62 of the men arrested in Zimbabwe and 6 Armenians in Malabo have since been released. In February 2008, Simon Mann, an alleged coup plotter, was extradited from Zimbabwe to Malabo, where the authorities say he will be tried.