African Dictatorships and Double-Standards

[Joanne98]

by Stephen Zunes
President George Bush singles out Zimbabwean Robert Mugabe as if he is the most dictatorial national leader on the planet. But in fact, the U.S. has good relations with "Swaziland, Congo, Cameroun, Togo, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Rwanda, Gabon, Egypt, and Tunisia," none of which hold democratic elections. Perhaps the greatest contradiction in U.S. stated and actual foreign policy in Africa is "the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea." Obiang killed his own uncle to seize power, and became one of the wealthiest men in Africa by keeping much of his country's oil revenues for himself. Obiang is so distrustful of his own people, he is guarded by Moroccons.

African Dictatorships and Double-Standards
Stephen Zunes
This article originally appeared in Foreign Policy In Focus

"U.S. credibility as a defender of human rights and free elections is seriously compromised."

The Bush administration has justifiably criticized the Zimbabwean regime of liberator-turned-dictator Robert Mugabe. It has joined a unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning the campaign of violence unleashed upon pro-democracy activists and calling for increased diplomatic sanctions in the face of yet another sham election. In addition, both the House and the Senate have passed strongly worded resolutions of solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in support of their struggle for freedom and democracy.

However, neither the Republican administration nor the Democratic-controlled Congress is sincerely concerned about human rights and democratic elections as a matter of principle. Rather, they are more likely acting out of political expediency. Despite claims of support for the advancement of democracy, the United States continues to support other African dictatorships that are as bad as or even worse than that of Zimbabwe.

Indeed, the United States currently provides economic aid and security assistance to such repressive African regimes as Swaziland, Congo, Cameroun, Togo, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Rwanda, Gabon, Egypt, and Tunisia. None of these countries holds free elections, and all have severely suppressed their political opposition.

The Worst Abuser

Among the worst of these African tyrannies has been the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. Obiang has been in power even longer than the 28-year reign of Mugabe and, according to a recent article in the British newspaper The Independent, makes the Zimbabwean dictator "seem stable and benign" by comparison. Obiang originally seized power in a 1979 coup by murdering his uncle, who had ruled the country since its independence from Spain in 1968. Under his rule, Equatorial Guinea nominally allowed the existence of opposition parties as a condition of receiving foreign aid in the early 1990s. But the four leading candidates withdrew from the last presidential election in December 2002 in protest of irregularities in the voting process and violence against their supporters. In that election, Obiang officially received more than 97% of the vote (down from 99.5% in the previous election.)

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=694&Itemid=1

Equatorial Guinea has OIL!

[mainegreen]

1. I will say this: Mugabe right now is killing folks pretty fast.

The rate of death is rising like Zims inflation!