REPUBLIC OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA Official name: Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial (Republic of Equatorial Guinea) Location: Central Africa International organisations: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, The African Union, The Non-Aligned Movement, The Organisation of Islamic Conference, The United Nations Borders: Cameroun, Gabon Coastline: Bight of Biafra Land area: 28,051 Km2 Population: 523,000

Ethnicity: The largest ethnic groups are the Bubi and the Fang. There is a small European minority.
Languages: Spanish is the official languages. African languages such as Fang, Bubi and Ibo as well as local pidgins are spoken.
Religion: Most of the population are at least nominal Catholic Christian, but indigenous beliefs are also widely held.
Form of government: Presidential republic, in practice a dictatorship. Equatorial Guinea is divided into seven provinces
Capital: Malabo
Constitution: The Constitution of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea came into effect on 1 September 1988.
Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a seven-year term.
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President. The Prime Minister is in theory accountable to the legislature but in practice is accountable to the President.
Legislature: Equatorial Guinea has a unicameral legislature, the House of People's Representatives (Camara de Representantes del Pueblo), which has 100 members elected for five-year terms from multi-member constituencies.
Electoral authority: The Junta Electoral Nacional (National Election Council) administers elections.
Freedom House 2005 rating: Political Rights 7, Civil Liberties 6

Political history

The Portuguese explorer Fernão do Po discovered the island of Bioko in 1471, and in 1778 Portugal ceded the island to the Spanish who called in Fernando Poo. In 1844 Spain also claimed the neighbouring coastal area known as Rio Muni. In 1904 the two territories were organised as Spanish Guinea. Since Spain itself was a dictatorship from 1939, there was no constitutional development in the territory before it became independent as Equatorial Guinea in October 1968. Francisco Macias Nguema took power and in July 1970 established a one-party state with himself as President for Life. Macias soon became one of Africa's nastiest dictators. An estimated 50,000 people were killed and a third of the population fled into exile.

In August 1979 Macias's nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, seized power, and Macias was executed for "treason." Despite promises of reform, Obiang continued authoritarian rule, although his regime was a great improvement on his uncle's. A new constitution came into effect in 1982, and Obiang was elected President without opposition. He was re-elected in 1989 and 1996. One-party rule was formally abolished under a new constitution in 1988, but Obiang's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) remains dominant. The opposition Convergence for a Social Democracy (CDS) boycotted the 2002 presidential election. At the April 2004 legislative elections the CDS won only two seats. These elections were characterised by massive vote-rigging by the ruling party and intimidation of the opposition. The opposition is believed to have polled about 40% of the vote, but official figures have it only 6% (see Afrol News's report).

Amnesty International's 2002 Report on Equatorial Guinea noted that: "Freedom of association continued to be restricted by the authorities, notably in the field of human rights... Harassment of peaceful political opponents continued, but to a lesser extent than in previous years. Opposition political parties, undermined by years of repression and internal dissension and defections, often engineered by the ruling party, found it increasingly difficult to mobilize their supporters." Things have if anything deteriorated since 2002.