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  • Money behind EG coup plot

    Money behind EG coup plot

    News24.com
    01/10/2004 21:55 - (SA)

    Dakar - Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has said
    that a recent foiled plot to oust him was driven by economic interest
    groups, Senegalese media reported on Friday.

    "Economic interest groups were behind the coup plot in March; these
    days Equatorial Guinea is an important country in the oil sector,"
    Obiang was quoted as saying.

    Speaking to reporters in Senegal, where he was wrapping up a state
    visit with his counterpart Abdoulaye Wade, Obiang declined to specify
    just which groups he thought were behind the plot.

    South Africans, Armenians and the son of former British prime minister
    Margaret Thatcher have been accused of involvement in the plot.

    Trials opened in Malabo in August for one group of alleged
    coup-plotters, among them a former Equato-Guinean deputy
    minister. They are expected to resume Monday.

    News reports have implicated an international network of wealthy
    businessmen in the alleged plot to oust Obiang, in exchange for which
    they would have got a slice of Equatorial Guinea's oil riches.

    Exiled Equato-Guinean opposition leader, Severo Moto, was accused by
    the authorities in Malabo of masterminding the coup bid, an accusation
    he vehemently denied last month.

    Obiang said on Thursday he was disposed to selling crude oil to
    Senegal at a good rate and invited Senegalese businessmen to invest in
    joint ventures with their Equato-Guinean counterparts.

    "Some say that oil is a curse, but it is not true; what is a curse is
    how Africa has been managed, since the time of slavery until now,"
    said Obiang,who has been in power since 1979.

    A former Spanish colony, Equatorial Guinea depended on cocoa and
    coffee for the bulk of its export revenues until offshore oil began
    flowing in 1996.

    The oil boom has brought double-digit growth but also concerns over
    transparency and complaints that the petro-dollars are not benefiting
    ordinary Equato-Guineans.

    Oil brings in 90% of export revenues, which go to the treasury, run by
    Obiang's brother Melchor Esono Edjo.

    The president's nephew, Baltasar Engonga Edjo, is economy minister;
    his eldest son Teodoro Nguema Obiang, is infrastructure minister, and
    the youngest son in the Obiang clan is secretary of state for
    hydrocarbons.

    Edited by Elmarie Jack
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