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Anyone Know
of A Nice Job on a Tropical Island Somewhere?
 Author:
Tejas Jones
Posted: 29 June, 2003
Eight years ago there
was almost nothing. Now a bustling hub of activity called Malabo,
Equatorial Guinea is located on the volcanic island of Bioko in
the Eastern Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa. What was
the change that brought this agrarian society of coco and banana
plantations into the Industrial era with a rather abrupt shove?
Oil, Texas Tea, Black Gold, the natural resource that in the later
half of the twentieth century has caused some of the largest disparities
in wealth between populous and leaders on Earth. This familiar scenario
is playing itself out once again in the small backwater of Equatorial
Guinea, West Africa.
Equatorial
Guinea: A Brief History
 The
history of Equatorial Guinea is one filled with European Colonization,
violence and tribal war, and frequently changing, brutally repressive
leadership.
The origins of the current
day capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, stem from Spanish Colonization
of West Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. This was followed
by the subsequent development of Malabo into a trading outpost for
the Spanish crown as the lucrative commodities, bananas and coco,
were grown for Spanish Europe's consumption.
With the demise of colonial
Spain and subsequent power struggles for dominance and power among
the African nationals for Bioko Island, tribal warfare's face appeared
on the island. It did not last long. The originally native, peaceful
Bubi tribe was displaced by the aggressive, warrior Fang tribe that
originated from mainland West Africa. Today, the displaced Bubi's
still exist in more remote areas of Bioko Island either in the jungles
or the elevated denizens along the side of the volcano. The Bubi's
are not necessarily privy to the national infrastructure system
delivering clean water or electricity (not that all of the Fang
descendants are either) and their communities tend to have a higher
incidence of disease (i.e. cholera, tuberculosis, etc.). The Bubi's
have become the second class citizens of Equatorial Guinea. They
are treated as such.
 Following
the securing of Equatorial Guinea by the Fang tribe, internal struggles
for power were the next inevitable step. Many figure-heads rose
to power only to be replaced by the next flavor of the week in leadership.
The cycle of African power snatching succeeded by more African power
snatching was interrupted in 1972 when mercenary, Alexander Ramsey
Gay, a Scotsman, along with 13 other white western and 50 black
African mercenaries appeared and took control of the island nation.
Control was eventually relinquished back to the locals and The Dogs
of War was authored about the entire sequence of events permanently
making the small nation infamous in mercenary circles.
A return of control to
the African Nationals meant a return to African politics. Corruption,
inept leadership and brutal elimination of dissidents were the order
of the day. From the current period of the late twentieth century
when General Mbasogo seized power in a military coup to rule from
1979 to the present day, two pieces of anecdotal evidence help to
give an apt characterization of the long lived and current Government.
First, in the early 1990's, ExxonMobil preformed a feasibility assessment
of Bioko Island that concluded it was possible to spray and eliminate
the current mosquito population from the island thereby eradicating
the malaria problem. Equatorial Guinea is reported to be home to
the greatest concentration of malaria cases involving P. falciparum,
the chloroquinine resistant malarial strain that causes cerebral
malaria, brain hemorrhaging and death. ExxonMobil also offered to
pay for the eradication costs therby benefiting local expat population,
as well as the local population. It is rumored that in close door
meetings between ExxonMobil and extreme top national officials that
the only question that was ever actually pursued was "What
will you give me to spray my island?" The island was never
sprayed and the mosquitoes still rule the day (and night) in Equatorial
Guinea.
 The
second bit of anecdotal evidence is mainly rumor and unsupported
claims said to be factual. It comes from the heavily shark infested
blue waters surrounding the island. The current mythology is that
the old practice of elimination of dissidents by shooting them on
the cliffs of Malabo and throwing their bodies into the waters below
gave rise to the large shark populations now in Malabo Bay as an
extremely plentiful feeding ground was formed. This makes for a
good story and Equatorial Guinea does routinely make the Amnesty
Internationals list of Human Rights Violators.
Equatorial
Guinea: Politics and the City of Malabo Today
Today, President Mbasogo
has been in control of Malabo and the rest of Equatorial Guinea
for nearly 30 years. However, a change in leadership may not be
very far in the future. It is rumored by island nationals that the
President's colon cancer and HIV is acting up again. While the best
healthcare in Europe is being utilized to delay the inevitable,
the president is in his 70's and may be close to exhausting his
human faculties. Although Equatorial Guinea appears to be a representative
democracy, it is becoming apparent with current rhetoric that an
attempt will be made to transition power from the president to one
of his sons. What will happen is anyone's guess but, it would not
be surprising to find a relative of the current president in the
position of control in the government.
Although the president
and family live in the lap of luxury and the majority of the country's
populous live in squalid conditions, the president is viewed as
a national hero. In fact, there is only rousing support for current
leadership. Why is it so rousing? Well, when any verbal criticism
at all of the current government can lead to your personal elimination,
these factors help to build nothing but the most verbose and enthusiastic
support possible for the current regime. Beyond that, to those without
the benefit of satellite television and the internet (which is almost
everyone), media and the flow of information is severely curtailed.
There is one local station that is governmentally operated and praises
the king, (Oops…sorry, err…president) fairly often. There
also no international media present or allowed on the Island, not
that there's much happening anyway. With these policies in play
and combined with a small, traceable population of only around 30,000
to 40,000 people that is divided along ancient tribal lines, keeping
control over the local, relatively unsophisticated and uneducated
population would not appear to be of much difficulty. This should
make for an easy path to keep control of Equatorial Guinea "in
the family".
 The
city of Malabo itself, despite its pest control issues, is a rather
quiet if not quaint West African city. It is not very dangerous
and still dominated near the center of the city by architecture
influenced by the Spanish colonization period. A set of antiquated
cannons from colonial times act as a centerpiece for the skyline
from the water as they face out over the Port and Malabo Bay aiding
in the historic feel of the area. Bars and restaurants abound although
only a few are fit for expatriate consumption as the others often
contribute to food poisoning or worse. The Pizza Place and Banana
Bar are the cervezerias of choice with the only clean, non-insect
infested hotel accommodations being located in the hotel that plays
hosts to the Banana Bar (and luckily the cannons are located adjacent
to the hotel). These are all located in the center of town.
From the airport, the
major port of entry from Europe and most of Africa, the center of
town is not difficult to find as the one major thoroughfare on the
island is three miles long and (you guessed it) connects the airport
and the town. The only other method of entry to the island is by
ferry from EG's mainland city of Bata. This runs once a week and
has all the trappings of an African ferry service. Dilapidated equipment,
overcrowding, no safety procedures or equipment and the ride is
a time consuming process. A vague specter, reminiscent of the Senegalese
ferry disaster, seems to hang over every boat ride. To complicate
matters, the waters off of Equatorial Guinea give themselves to
unpredictable and violent changes in weather as hurricanes bound
for the Caribbean and Southeastern US begin here when warm water
currents collide with cooler weather patterns coming down from Mount
Rainer in Cameroon or Bioko, EG. If capable, the preferred method
of travel would have to be by air.
Other than working, drinking,
and short term site seeing, local expat populations have expressed
interest in hiking, mountain climbing, and other exploratory activities
to pass the time. This has been met with limited success due to
the surrounding jungle being filled with mosquitoes, multiple species
of poisonous spiders, green mambas and other tougher than average
biological barriers. A Frenchman set off on a climbing expedition
to the summit of the volcano several weeks ago. If he ever shows
up again, we'll find out how adventure sporting is on EG. Most local
expat sentiment is to enjoy the bars and view down by the water
or from an elevated patio at the base of the volcano.
Equatorial
Guinea: Future Hopes, Possibilities, and the Reality of It All
 With
only eight years since the discovery and beginning of further exploration
and development of offshore oilfields in Equatorial Guinea, little
time has passed for EG's population to become disillusioned to the
same degree as some of their other West African counterparts. But,
give it time - Nigeria and Cameroon, geographically, are not that
far away. Dissention and the "What Do You Have for Me?"
mentality seem to originate at the top and cascade ever further
downward (the trickle down economic theory was embraced whole heartedly
in Western Africa) until completely pervading and permeating the
West African society and psyche. Equatorial Guinea is still, metaphorically
speaking, on the beginning of the road to future natural resource
wealth. As 800,000 barrels of oil are flowing daily out of EG waters
with an eventual goal of 1 Million, the hope is that EG will take
the proverbial road less traveled for the good of the country and
citizenship.
If a word could be used
for this small, mostly island, West African nation, it would be
"Potential". Equatorial Guinea could, theoretically, become
successful on the order of and by similar development to Singapore.
Equatorial Guinea's largest advantage is its location. The initial
wealth afforded to the country from the development of offshore
oil reserves and the possession of a deep water port along the West
Coast of Africa are the country's two largest assets. How can these
assets be developed beyond a multi-billion  dollar
GDP for the country to a multi-trillion dollar GDP and the possibility
of one of the highest average incomes among the civilian population
in the world?With long range governmental planning for populous
education, business and infrastructure development, an aggressive
campaign to eliminate corruption from the president down (most importantly
with the customs service) coupled with the establishment of transparent
government and business practices, the only competent and dependable
shipping hub in all of West Africa could be established. This would
give access and a secure area for both regional management and staging
activities for the Sub-Saharan portion of the African continent
within close but inaccessible proximity of the mainland. This would
be advantageous for oil, telecom, and other multi-national entities
that currently base themselves out of Lagos, Nigeria, Doualla, Cameroon
or Europe for their African operations.
 Unfortunately,
this type of development takes foresight and an altruistic view
for country and fellow citizen. None of the potential future leaders
appear to have the foresight or education comparable to a contemporary
like the Emir of Qatar who took a spit of sand in the Gulf of Arabia
all the way to international affluence while working within similar
parameters. As the younger of the two sons that seem poised to assume
leadership from their father races his new Ferrari up and down the
only three mile stretch of road in Equatorial Guinea, the other
son is disrupting truck shipping into the port demanding tolls be
paid so that he can buy a Ferrari of his own. Albert Schweitzer
they're not.
I am now getting ready
for my hour of departure to come. Sitting in the terminal built
solely for the oil workers that come and go from Equatorial Guinea,
I have a sneaking suspicion that ExxonMobil is responsible for the
signs that read "Please Don't Bribe the Customs Officers"
behind the counter and not the government. Well, so much for anti-corruption
policies being initiated by the EG regulatory bodies. My only other
thought before my last three Heineken's hit me on this warm, humid
African night is to wonder if any of my other friends or colleagues
went through the regular terminal at the airfield and got robbed
at knife point by the customs official there? It happened to a friend
of mine in November and is always a possibility in the "uncontrolled"
terminal. The robbery was silently supervised by the police/ military
official standing by the counter with the assault rifle. Se la vies,
EG.
Author: Tejas Jones
Contact: news@polosbastards.com
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