African Dictatorships and Double-Standards
Stephen Zunes
This
article originally appeared in Foreign Policy In
Focus
"U.S. credibility as a defender of human rights and free
elections is seriously compromised."
The Bush administration has justifiably criticized the Zimbabwean regime of liberator-turned-dictator Robert Mugabe. It has joined a unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning the campaign of violence unleashed upon pro-democracy activists and calling for increased diplomatic sanctions in the face of yet another sham election. In addition, both the House and the Senate have passed strongly worded resolutions of solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in support of their struggle for freedom and democracy.
However,
neither the Republican administration nor the Democratic-controlled Congress is
sincerely concerned about human rights and democratic elections as a matter of
principle. Rather, they are more likely acting out of political expediency.
Despite claims of support for the advancement of democracy, the United States
continues to support other African dictatorships that are as bad as or even
worse than that of Zimbabwe.
Indeed, the
United States currently provides economic aid and security assistance to such
repressive African regimes as Swaziland, Congo, Cameroun, Togo, Chad, Cote
d'Ivoire, Rwanda, Gabon, Egypt, and Tunisia. None of these countries holds free
elections, and all have severely suppressed their political opposition.
The Worst Abuser
Among the
worst of these African tyrannies has been the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema
Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. Obiang has been in power even longer than the
28-year reign of Mugabe and, according to a recent
article in the British newspaper The Independent, makes the
Zimbabwean dictator "seem stable and benign" by comparison. Obiang originally
seized power in a 1979 coup by murdering his uncle, who had ruled the country
since its independence from Spain in 1968. Under his rule, Equatorial Guinea
nominally allowed the existence of opposition parties as a condition of
receiving foreign aid in the early 1990s. But the four leading candidates
withdrew from the last presidential election in December 2002 in protest of
irregularities in the voting process and violence against their supporters. In
that election, Obiang officially received more than 97% of the vote (down from
99.5% in the previous election.)
Though the
U.S. State Department acknowledged
that the election was "marred by extensive fraud and intimidation," the
Congress and the administration devoted none of the vehement condemnation that
was so evident after the recent, similarly marred election process in Zimbabwe.
One major reason for the difference in response is oil.
The development of vast oil reserves over the past decade has made Equatorial
Guinea one of the wealthiest countries in Africa in terms of per capita gross
domestic product. Virtually all of the oil revenues, however, goes to Obiang
and his cronies. The dictator himself is worth an estimated $1 billion, making
him the wealthiest leader in Africa; his real estate holdings include two
mansions in Maryland just outside of Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the vast
majority of the country's population lives on only a few dollars a day, and
nearly half of all children under five are malnourished. The country's major
towns and cities lack basic sanitation and potable water while conditions in
the countryside are even worse.
"The development of vast oil reserves over the past
decade has made Equatorial Guinea one of the wealthiest countries in Africa in
terms of per capita gross domestic product."
During his
most recent visit to Washington in 2006, Obiang was warmly received by
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who praised the dictator as "a good
friend" of the United States. Not once during their joint appearance did she
mention the words "human rights" or "democracy." At the same press conference,
Obiang praised his regime's "extremely good relations with the United States"
and his expectation that "this relationship will continue to grow in friendship
and cooperation." None of the assembled reporters raised any questions about
the regime's notorious human rights record or its lack of democracy, instead
using the opportunity to ask Secretary Rice questions about the alleged threat
from Iran.
In 2002,
the dictator met with President George W. Bush in New York to discuss military
and energy security issues. He followed up in 2004 with meetings with
then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-Secretary of Energy Spencer
Abraham.
Cozy Relations
Equatorial
Guinea receives U.S. government funding and training through the International
Military Education and Training Program (IMET). In addition, the private U.S.
firm Military Professional Resources Incorporated - founded by former senior
Pentagon officials who cite the regime's friendliness to U.S. strategic and
economic interests - plays a key role in the country's internal security
apparatus. Furthermore, as a result of Obiang's understandable lack of trust in
his own people, soldiers from Morocco - one of America's closest African allies
- have served for decades in a number of important security functions,
including the role of presidential guards.
Maintaining
close ties with such a notorious ruler has led even conservative Republicans
like Frank Ruddy, who served as President Ronald Reagan's ambassador to
Equatorial Guinea in the mid-1980s, to denounce the Bush
administration for being "big cheerleaders for the government - and it's an
awful government."
"U.S. oil companies paid hundreds of millions of dollars
destined to state treasuries directly into the dictator's private bank
accounts."
Though the
Chinese have also recently begun investing in the country's oil sector, U.S.
companies ExxonMobil, Amerada Hess, Chevron/Texaco, and Marathon Oil have
played the most significant role. A report
by the International Monetary Fund notes that U.S. oil companies receive
"by far the most generous tax and profit-sharing provisions in the region."
Congressional hearings recently revealed how U.S. oil companies paid hundreds
of millions of dollars destined to state treasuries directly into the
dictator's private bank accounts. A Senate
report faulted U.S. oil companies for making "substantial payments to, or
entering into business ventures with," government officials and their family
members.
The irony
of the relative silence of Congress and the Bush administration regarding the
human rights abuses and the undemocratic nature of Obiang's regime is that, due
to the critical role of U.S. economic investment and security assistance, the
United States has far more leverage on the government of Equatorial Guinea than
it does on the government of Zimbabwe. As a result, Americans can feel
self-righteous in their condemnation of a regime in Zimbabwe with which the
United States has little leverage while continuing to support an even more
repressive regime over which the United States could successfully exert
pressure if it chose to do so.
This does
not mean the United States should have waited until it first ends its support
of Obiang and other African dictatorships before joining the rest of the
international community in condemning the repression in Zimbabwe. However, as
long as the United States maintains such blatant double-standards, U.S.
credibility as a defender of human rights and free elections is seriously
compromised and thereby plays right into the hands of autocrats and demagogues
like Robert Mugabe.
Stephen Zunes
is a senior analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus
and a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.
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