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Spain and Equatorial Guinea: a triumph of energy realism?
08/07/2008 By Edward Burke
In a period when international condemnation of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s regime has reached new heights, events in another African country with an appalling human rights record has embroiled Spain in accusations related to a now-infamous mercenary plot.
Rodrigo Angue Nguema/AFP/Getty Images
The ongoing trial in Equatorial Guinea of alleged coup leader and ex-SAS officer Simon Mann has become a political issue for Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero’s government, which has been forced to repeat its denial that Spain provided any backing for the failed attempt to topple President Teodoro Obiang in March 2004.
Mann’s trial is undoubtedly a poorly-orchestrated charade in one of Africa’s most corrupt and brutal states, but his repeated insistence that the government of former Prime Minister José María Aznar backed the coup attempt has thrown relations between Spain and Equatorial Guinea into sharp focus with less than flattering results for both the previous Partido Popular (PP) and the current Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) governments. In this Comment article Edward Burke explores events leading up to Simon Mann’s detention and the political row that followed.
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Keywords
Democracy promotion Democratisation Dictatorship Equatorial Guinea SpainRelated publications
Bio author: Edward Burke
Political trends in the Persian Gulf region. Iraq. Yemen. Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia. Politics of energy in the Middle East.
