Equatorial Guinea in turmoil: Presidential scandal sparks succession battle
Equatorial Guinea, a small country in Central Africa, has been shaken by a scandal at the highest echelons of government. Approximately 400 recordings have surfaced online, capturing one of the candidates for the presidency in compromising situations.
In recent weeks, up to 400 videos featuring Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a senior government official, have leaked onto social media in Equatorial Guinea. These recordings show Engonga in intimate situations with various women, often wives or partners of other prominent officials.
Engonga, the nephew of the current president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, was among the potential successors of the world's longest-serving president.
Obiang assumed the presidency of Equatorial Guinea following a coup in 1979. His administration has been sharply criticised for allegations of human rights abuses, including the use of torture against prisoners. The BBC reminds us that despite regular elections, there is no genuine opposition in the country, as activists are imprisoned or remain in exile, and those intending to assume the security services closely monitor high-ranking positions.
Phones and computers confiscated, then the recordings leaked online
According to the BBC, the recordings leaked after security forces searched Engonga's home and detained him in connection with another case where he was charged with corruption. The man was arrested on 25 October on charges of embezzling a substantial sum of money from the state treasury and depositing it in secret accounts in the Cayman Islands. His phones and computers were confiscated. A few days later, intimate videos featuring him started appearing online.
"As the computer equipment was in the hands of the security forces, suspicion has fallen on someone there, who, perhaps, sought to trash Mr Engonga’s reputation ahead of a trial (concerning the corruption charges)," reports the BBC.
Internal power struggles
Activists suggest that the scandal is part of a broader power struggle. Nsang Christia Esimi Cruz, an Equatorial Guinean activist living in London, told the BBC: "What we are seeing is the end of an era, the end of the current president, and there is a succession [question] and this is the internal fighting we are seeing."
Among those suspected of being behind the recordings leak, according to the BBC, was the first vice president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mangue, the current president's son.
"The vice-president, along with his mother, are suspected to be pushing aside anyone who threatens his path to the presidency, including Gabriel Obiang Lima (another son of President Obiang from a different wife), who was oil minister for 10 years and then moved to a secondary government role," reads the BBC report.
