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Energy & democracy / Comment

Spain and Equatorial Guinea: a triumph of energy realism?

08/07/2008 By Edward Burke

Rodrigo Angue Nguema/AFP/Getty Images

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.

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 Guinea Spain

Related publications

• Spain's Foreign and Cooperation Policy in Equatorial Guinea

Bio author: Edward Burke

Edward Burke is a Researcher at FRIDE's Democratisation Programme. He is currently contributing to an analysis of Freedom of Association in the Middle East, focusing on Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. He is also working on an ongoing project to evaluate the effect energy security has on policies for the promotion of democracy. He holds a Masters in War Studies from King's College London.