Equatorial Guinea Coup Plot Deepens

[seemslikeadream]

No member of President Obiang's cabinet or members of his family, many of whom hold high government positions, has been charged with complicity in the coup. But the president's half-brother, who serves as chief of Equatorial Guinea's secret service, has recently signed a deal with the alleged commander of the advance team, 48-year-old former mercenary Nick du Toit, to build a paramilitary force. Mr. du Toit is on trial for his alleged role in the plot.

But, whether true or not, Ollie Owen from the London-based World Markets Research Center, says the reports of the plot have had little effect on Equatorial Guinea's booming oil sector.

"I do not think it is going to significantly affect anything that is in place already. Most of those energy sector investments are offshore, therefore they are fairly well insulated from the day to day fluctuations and that, but we will have to see how it pursues," he says.

Equatorial Guinea is now Africa's third largest oil producer behind Nigeria and Angola. But, despite the growing oil revenues, the poverty rate in Equatorial Guinea remains high.
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http://www.voanews.com/EnglishtoAfrica/article.cfm?objectID=598336EE-685A-4FDB-8E2BFA3BB4CA0120&title=Equatorial%20Guinea%20Coup%20Plot%20Deepens

[sattahipdeep]

1. Change

Did u really think there would be a change?

Just because of this suposed coup attempt......did u think
there would be any changes.

Oil companies and the $$ r so insulated not
much other than a deal like iraq would even affect them.

[Vladimir]

2. Have you noticed btw. how all the British press

has been including allegations of President Obiang eating the testicles of his enemies in their reports of the affair? I would expect it from the Sun, but the Independant genuinely shocked me. Racist bastards...

[sattahipdeep]

3. It looks like he did piss off the cook

How oil brought the dogs of
war back to Malabo

02 September 2004

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=557402

:hi:

[Vladimir]

7. I know I read that...

it is amazing, they trot out the same cannibalism bullshit again and again.

[Judi Lynn]

8. I've seen that, too.Sad to see that paper pandering like that.

So irresponsible, so sensationalistic, so underhanded. Looks as if they're going the way of our own media.

If he DOES do that, that action alone should stand on its own as the sole target for a huge expose, not be slid in and hidden among other charges while doing a story on a completely different subject. The use of coloration, innuendo, unproven allegations to mold public perception is sly, is dishonest.

[Vladimir]

9. I would prefer that they just left it alone

to be honest with you. I mean, what is the point - his human rights record is bad fucking enough without claiming that he eats testicles. But you are right, if they want to do it at all, they should have the courage to research a full piece on it and be judged for it. Cowardly racist scum.

[sattahipdeep]

4. Hefty oilmen with Texan accents

Hefty oilmen with Texan accents live in isolated compounds with their
equally hefty spouses and offspring, while African villagers a few miles away
live the way they always have, practising subsistence agriculture and
animist beliefs. There, it is said, one can hear dark mutterings about certain
omens concerning the President.



http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=557402

[sattahipdeep]

5. "Elite" are illiterate

When his uncle was killed, Mr Obiang apparently took custody of the clan's
most precious ritual object, a skull, which should have passed to his eldest
brother. And when his wife had twins - considered an evil event in many
African societies - he failed to have the younger one killed. No good will
come of it, traditionalists say. Hearing such tales, and bearing in mind that
many of the ruling "elite" are illiterate, must have convinced anyone plotting a
coup that they could not fail. "But just because someone is illiterate does not
mean that he is stupid," the government adviser said. "There was a lot of
white arrogance towards black people in this."



http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=557402

[sattahipdeep]

6. Citizens Indeed

But in a world where Washington faces threats to its strategic oil supplies
across the Middle East, it is not likely to be too fastidious about events in a
country few of its citizens could find on a map. Indeed, the US is mulling
plans to build its biggest military base in Africa right here. The arrival of
American warships, aircraft and service personnel would heighten the
already surreal contrasts that exist in Equatorial Guinea.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=557402