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Equatorial Guinea

Country in west-central Africa, bounded north by Cameroon, east and south by Gabon, and west by the Atlantic Ocean; also five offshore islands including Bioko, off the coast of Cameroon.

Government

Equatorial Guinea is a presidential republic. The constitution of 1992 - based on that of 1982, but catering for opposition parties - provides for a president, elected by universal suffrage for a seven-year term, and a single-chamber legislature. The president appoints the prime minister and cabinet ministers, and is also defence minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The legislature, known as the chamber of people's representatives, comprises 1000 deputies popularly elected by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies for a five-year term. Minor political parties are allowed to operate, but one party, the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), dominates the political system. Most opposition politicians are forced to live in exile.

History

The area was inhabited by Pygmies before the 1200s, followed by various ethnic groups settling the mainland and islands. Reached by Portuguese explorers in 1472, the islands came under Spanish rule in the mid 1800s and the mainland territory of Río Muni (now Mbini) in 1885, the whole colony being known as Spanish Guinea. The territory was a Spanish Overseas Province from 1959, with internal autonomy from 1963.

Dictatorship

After 190 years of Spanish rule, Equatorial Guinea became fully independent in 1968, with Francisco Macias Nguema as president with a coalition government. In 1970 Macias banned all political parties and replaced them with one, the United National Party (PUN). Two years later he declared himself president for life and established a dictatorship, controlling press and radio and forbidding citizens to leave the country. There were many arrests and executions 1976-77. He also established close relations with the Soviet bloc.

Military regime

In 1979 Macias was overthrown in a coup by his nephew, Lt-Col Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Macias was tried and executed. Obiang expelled Soviet advisers and renewed economic and political ties with Spain. He banned PUN and other political parties, ruling through a supreme military council. Coups against him in 1981 and 1983 were unsuccessful, and he was re-elected in 1982 and 1989.

Moves towards democracy

In 1992 a new constitution allowed for multiparty politics. However, stringent requirements for the official registration of parties, including a payment that was 2,000 times the average annual salary, effectively deterred political activity. The first multiparty elections in November 1993 were won by Obiang's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) on a very low turnout and foreign observers questioned their validity. The country's human-rights record and certain provisions of the revised constitution that gave legal privileges to the president were subsequently criticized by the United Nations. In February 1996 Obiang was re-elected, amid claims of fraud by his opponents.

Obiang won a further term as president, after the four main opposition parties withdrew from the December 2002 presidential election, claiming electoral fraud. He survived an attempted coup in March 2004, allegedly backed by foreign secret services. However, Obiang was suffering from prostate cancer and his health deteriorated from 2005. It was believed that he wished his son, son Teodorín Nguema Obiang, to succeed him, but there was opposition to this within the PDGE.

Bata Bioko

Economic Community of Central African States Fang

Fernando Póo Macias Nguema

Malabo Pagalu

Río Muni Spanish Guinea