Three West African Dictatorships Have One Common Theme

By Henry Srebrnik, [Moncton, NB] Times & Transcript
 
Three African countries with similar names sit on the Atlantic Ocean coast, and they have something in common beside their name. All three are corrupt and failing states.

Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Equatorial Guinea are former colonies of, respectively, France, Portugal and Spain.

In Guinea, President Alpha Condé held a referendum on March 22, postponed from March 1, that would pave the way for his third term bid. He claimed the changes would create a “modern constitution” that would respond “to the needs of the world today.”

The referendum, ostensibly supported by almost 92 per cent of voters, was marred by massive violence. Opponents attacked a polling station, vandalised voting equipment, and clashed with police in the capital, Conakry. But Condé enacted the new charter by decree on April 6.

Opposition parties also boycotted concurrent elections to the 114-member National Assembly. The boycotting group included the leading opposition party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UDF), and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR). With little opposition, Conde’s party won 79 of the seats.

Condé, who has been president since 2010, won re-election in 2015. Both the 2010 constitution and the new constitution limits presidential mandates to two terms. But the new constitution resets the clock, so Condé, who is 81, would be able to run for president again even though he is approaching the end of his second term, and remain in power for 12 more years.

Since last October, protests against the planned constitutional change led to at least 32 protestors killed. Five opposition and civil society leaders were sentenced to prison for organising the protests.

Condé and his son have been implicated in a number of corruption scandals. In 2016, it was alleged that the mining company Rio Tinto paid $10.5 million for rights in the Simandou iron ore mine.

In next-door Guinea-Bissau, the results of the Dec. 29 runoff presidential election were challenged, after the National Election Commission declared former Prime Minister Umaro Sissoco Embalo of the Movement of Democratic Change (Madem-G 15) the winner.

He beat former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).

Eambalo’s swearing-in ceremony took place in Bissau Feb. 27. He immediately fired prime minister and PAIGC veteran Aristides Gomes and swore in former presidential opponent Nuno Nabiam as his new prime minister.

Embalo promised a “zero-tolerance policy” towards international drug cartels which have used the country as a staging post in the trafficking of cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

The PAIGC, whose 47 deputies continue to control the 102-seat parliament, disputed the result. Instead, the legislature voted to install parliamentary leader Cipriano Cassama as president.

But Cassama resigned shortly thereafter, alleging death threats. Troops then occupied the Supreme Court and other government buildings and shut down state broadcasters.

Incumbent José Mario Vaz, who served as the country’s fifth president but ran third this time, was the first leader since 1994 to complete his term, in a country which has seen 20 coups or attempted coups since 1974.

Equatorial Guinea is probably the worst of the three. The world’s longest serving leader, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo marked his 40th year in power last August. He deposed his uncle in a bloody coup d’état in 1979.

The ruling Democratic Party (PDGE) has a virtual monopoly over political life. It holds all but one seat in the 170-member bicameral parliament.

Citizens are denied economic and social rights, including access to health care and education, despite the country’s vast oil revenues, which benefit the political elite.

Corruption and repression of civil and political rights continue unabated. Freedoms of association and assembly are severely curtailed, and the government imposes restrictive conditions on the operation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Local activists who work on human rights-related issues face intimidation, harassment, and reprisals. In May 2019, a court convicted 112 people for participating in a December 2017 coup attempt. Former Chief Justice Juan Carlos Ondo, now in hiding, was also accused of taking part.

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the president’s son, was convicted of money laundering and embezzlement of more than $100 million by a Paris court in 2017. His collection of luxury cars was seized.