Equatorial Guinea
Moroccan life guard to leave Equatorial Guinea

afrol.com, 10 January - The Moroccan life guard in charge of protecting the Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema definitively leaves the country this year, according the country's opposition. The Moroccans have been a guarantor for the country's undemocratic presidency for decades.

According to sources from the oppositional Union of Independent Democrats (UDI), the Equatorial Guinean Minister of the Presidency, Alejandro Evuna Owono, already in August 2000 went to Rabat to negotiate for a renewed Military Agreement with Morocco. Recent news releases show that he failed in reaching an agreement, initiating the departure of the Moroccan Guard from the Spanish ex-colony already this year.

The Spanish news agency EFE confirms that as a consequence of the Moroccan refusal to renew the agreement, President Obiang has initiated negotiations with his allies Cuba, China and North Korea to find a replacement for his personal protection. This was confirmed by independent sources reporting that "one general and four colonels of the Chinese Army" recently visited Equatorial Guinea and had talks with President Obiang.

Daniel Oyono, leader of the UDI, explains that "the Chinese Communist Party now is alone in maintaining strong cooperation ties with the governing Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, and China is the main country of arms supply to Equatorial Guinea."

Sources close to the presidency claim that a payment of several hundred thousands US$ is being prepared to "settle and close" the contacts with Morocco and to open the way for an even deeper contact with China.

Equatorial Guinea under Teodoro Obiang and Morocco under recently deceased King Hassan II had maintained strong ties of friendship. King Hassan II immediately supplied President Obiang with security material after the latter came to power in a coup d'état against his uncle Francisco Macías Nguema on 3 August 1979. Only one and a half month after the coup, Morocco sent a contingent of 180 soldiers to ensure the protection of the new military government. These were to form the Presidential Guard, replacing Cuban soldiers.

Since that, the Moroccan Guard has played a significant part in Equatorial Guinean history. It were the Moroccans that executed deposed President Macías Nguema in September 1979, after he was sentenced to death. President Obiang, not interested in democratising the country, soon came to "govern under the shadow of his Moroccan Guard" as international observers quickly called it.

In 1981, four Moroccans died in disturbances, a staged coup attempt, in reality protecting Obiang's personal interests. The Guard had thus grown to over 600 Moroccan soldiers, operating apart from the 1,700-strong national army. Although it has been involved in few actual encounters with plotters or protesters, its mere presence has scared off the oppositional majority from attacking the presidency. Also the widespread opposition to President Obiang within the armed forces has found few outlets with the better equipped, always loyal, Moroccan Guard protecting the President.

The presence of the Moroccans has however not been a free service. In return, Morocco has received cash pay-off and significant political influence. In 1980, President Obiang went against other African nations and recognised Moroccan claims on Western Sahara, thus offending many of the guiding precepts of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and African sates. 

Sources: Based on La Diáspora, EFE and afrol archives 

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