Browse content similar to On the Road - Equatorial Guinea. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
defending his sprinting titles. Now, HARDtalk is on the road in | :00:07. | :00:17. | |
:00:17. | :00:35. | ||
Hard Talk is on the Road in Equatorial Guinea. A tiny, oil rich | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
nation in West Africa. Thence to the oil bonanza, it has one of the | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
fastest-growing economies in the whole of Africa but it is also | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
rated one of the most corrupt and unequal countries on the planet. At | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
the centre of the extraordinary story is President Teodoro Obiang. | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
The question is, when we'll we'll change come up to one of Africa's | :00:58. | :01:08. | |
:01:08. | :01:18. | ||
most notorious regimes? -- when Hot, humid and largely hidden from | :01:18. | :01:25. | |
prying eyes. Equatorial Guinea is a nation of just three-quarters of a | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
million people. Split between an island capital and a sparsely | :01:28. | :01:38. | |
:01:38. | :01:39. | ||
inhabited mainland. The President of styles himself as an African | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
statesman. A father to his people. In reality, he, his family and his | :01:45. | :01:54. | |
ruling party have kept an iron grip on this country for 33 years. | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
Foreign journalists are rarely granted visas. This is not a regime | :01:58. | :02:05. | |
that invites scrutiny. During our visit, we were required to travel | :02:06. | :02:12. | |
in a government in the bus. The minder from the ministry was a | :02:12. | :02:20. | |
constant companion. This is the face Equatorial Guinea presents to | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
visitors. This resort, a few kilometres from the coast of the | :02:24. | :02:31. | |
capital, was built to host an African Union summit. It was the | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
President's chance to burnish his image. But now, the Convention | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
Centre, the hotel and beach resort, the grand boulevards, are all | :02:42. | :02:51. | |
deserted. And most eerie of all, the NT villas. Built for Africa's | :02:51. | :02:58. | |
52 heads of state. -- NT. A sprawling monument to presidential | :02:58. | :03:08. | |
:03:08. | :03:12. | ||
This is the Equatorial Guinea outsiders rarely visit. More than | :03:12. | :03:20. | |
half the population lives on $1 a day or less. The UN thinks life- | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
expectancy is in the low 50s. An infant mortality is amongst the | :03:25. | :03:34. | |
highest in Africa. --. In the country's second city, this man, a | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
baker, told me of his daily reality. No piped water, week electricity | :03:40. | :03:49. | |
and roads that are impassable when it rains. In Equatorial Guinea, | :03:49. | :03:56. | |
fear permeates all discussion of politics. The regime has a grim | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
record of suppressing opposition. Which is why this young man | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
insisted on anonymity before he would talk. All of your life, you | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
have known only one President. That is President Teodoro Obiang. What | :04:12. | :04:19. | |
are your feelings about him? TRANSLATION: The people of | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
Equatorial Guinea are suffering. Everything is very wrong here. All | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
of the oil money and blogging mind is taken by the President's family. | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
Other than party members, nobody else is allowed to make money. | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
people in this country know that the President and his family are | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
worth tens, hundreds of millions of dollars? TRANSLATION: People here | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
know what is happening but nobody can say anything. No-one can put | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
their hand up and say, this is bad. You just can't do that. It would be | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
a mistake to do that. Not like in a liberal democracy where people can | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
say what they want. But if you do that, what happens? The secret | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
police will come to arrest you. Nobody would know. Your family | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
would not be able to find you. If you live alone, you would just | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
disappear. Many people have disappeared. It sounds to me as | :05:14. | :05:21. | |
though you feel very angry and very powerless, helpless, in this | :05:21. | :05:28. | |
situation? TRANSLATION: I feel angry and I am not alone. Sometimes, | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
as young people sit and discuss things. None of us can see any good | :05:32. | :05:42. | |
:05:42. | :05:43. | ||
in the things that are happening. There have been attempts to | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
overthrow President mac. The most infamous was laid by a British | :05:49. | :05:55. | |
nursery. -- the President. Back by money, the son of the former | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
British prime minister. Since the foiled coup in 2004, the President | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
has routinely labelled internal dissidents as coup plotters and | :06:06. | :06:16. | |
agents of foreign powers. This man is currently Equatorial Guinea's | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
only opposition MP. We met him outside the country to escape the | :06:21. | :06:29. | |
attentions of the government's minders. Welcome to HARDtalk. You, | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
surely, have one of the toughest political jobs in the world. Just | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
how difficult is it to try to lead an opposition movement inside | :06:38. | :06:48. | |
:06:48. | :06:49. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 49 seconds | :06:49. | :07:38. | |
How big a factor is fear? You know what prison is like in Equatorial | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
Guinea. People see that and they think, if they join the opposition, | :07:43. | :07:53. | |
:07:53. | :07:53. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 49 seconds | :07:53. | :09:05. | |
if they express discontent, they I suppose President Teodoro | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
Obiang's point would be that you were imprisoned but he would say | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
things have changed a great deal since then. He has launched his | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
ten-year programme of reform. He says he is committed to | :09:17. | :09:24. | |
transparency, to human rights and to democracy. You are now the | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
official opposition MP in the parliament. He tolerate opposition. | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
He says that, right now, Equatorial Guinea is on a clear path to | :09:35. | :09:45. | |
:09:45. | :09:45. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 49 seconds | :09:45. | :11:01. | |
Let me ask you this. If the investor nations, particularly the | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
rich Western nations, took a different attitude to him, if they | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
put real pressure on him and his government to respect human rights, | :11:10. | :11:20. | |
:11:20. | :11:49. | ||
For all the criticism aimed at the regime, it does not face | :11:49. | :11:55. | |
international isolation. China has moved in, with massive | :11:55. | :12:02. | |
infrastructure investment. Here, we found a Chinese company laying | :12:02. | :12:12. | |
:12:12. | :12:15. | ||
electricity lines in a city. It's a very big project. Yes. I think it's | :12:15. | :12:21. | |
a very big programme and we will finish. How long will it take? | :12:21. | :12:28. | |
Maybe 2015. 2014. The whole job is going to finish. How many Chinese | :12:28. | :12:37. | |
workers are here on this one project? For now, maybe 500 for 600. | :12:37. | :12:46. | |
What is the feeling of the local people towards you? Most of them is | :12:46. | :12:52. | |
friendly. But some guys... I don't know what they think. You have a | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
problem with some people? Yes. But everything is OK. We can keep going. | :12:58. | :13:05. | |
We can go on, no problem. For you, as a Chinese citizen and a Chinese | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
worker, it seems there are many opportunities right now in | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
Equatorial Guinea. Many jobs, a lot of work. It's a good place to come | :13:14. | :13:21. | |
if you are Chinese? Yes. Yes, it is true. More and more Chinese are | :13:21. | :13:31. | |
:13:31. | :13:36. | ||
Payback for China comes in the form of access to precious war material. | :13:36. | :13:46. | |
:13:46. | :13:47. | ||
-- raw. Like Equatorial Guinea's hardwood timber. Swathes of the | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
country's rainforest are being cut down to satisfied China's | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
insatiable demand. This vessel was preparing to take 30,000 tonnes of | :13:57. | :14:07. | |
Lords to Shanghai. -- logs. This is what it economy is about. | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
Exploiting and exporting natural resources. The timber trade is | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And it is no secret that | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
much of the profit goes directly into the pockets of the ruling | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
family. And it is no coincidence that for years, the present's son | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
served as the minister of forestry. And his father gave him the right | :14:33. | :14:43. | |
to vast areas of this country's Its the oil and gas business that | :14:43. | :14:50. | |
has really transformed equatorial Guinea's economy. The country is | :14:50. | :15:00. | |
:15:00. | :15:00. | ||
the third biggest producer in sub- Saharan Africa. This is the huge | :15:00. | :15:06. | |
punter Europa processing plant near the capital. Here they produce | :15:06. | :15:12. | |
almost 4 million tonnes of liquid natural gas every year. The vast | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
majority of oil and gas production in equatorial Guinea is done by | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
American companies. And they funnel many millions of dollars a year | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
into the coffers of the regime. What happens to that money? Well | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
that's a question now being asked by investigators working for the US | :15:33. | :15:43. | |
:15:43. | :15:44. | ||
The President's first son is at the centre of many of the allegations | :15:44. | :15:54. | |
:15:54. | :16:01. | ||
The notorious for his playboy lifestyle and extravagant shopping | :16:01. | :16:07. | |
habits, he's seen his Paris mansion and his fleet of luxury cars seized | :16:07. | :16:17. | |
:16:17. | :16:19. | ||
by the French authorities. The US government is also going after | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
property, a private jet, even a $2 million collection of Michael | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
Jackson memorabilia... Or acquired with cash allegedly diverted from | :16:29. | :16:38. | |
the state. -- all. Some of equatorial Guinea's oil wealth is | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
being spent at home, but on projects which raised questions | :16:43. | :16:49. | |
about the President's priorities. This vast construction side carved | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
out of the country's jungle interior is just one part of an | :16:54. | :17:00. | |
ambitious multi-billion-dollar plan to build a new capital city. -- | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
sight. This has to be one of the most extraordinary construction | :17:05. | :17:11. | |
projects I have ever seen. I'm on the roof of a 450 room five-star | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
luxury hotel, that comes complete with a full-size theatre, a | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
convention centre, and cast out of The Jungle, an 18 ho | :17:22. | :17:29. | |
golf course. -- carved. Just down the road, a new university is | :17:29. | :17:36. | |
taking shape. The plan is to make it the finest in central and west | :17:36. | :17:44. | |
Africa. A magnet for 8000 students. But in a tiny country with a poor | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
record in primary and secondary education, will reality ever match | :17:48. | :17:57. | |
the ambition? Vicente, welcome to HARDtalk. Thank you. How much, from | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
beginning to completion, is this university project, let alone the | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
whole city, but this university project, going to cost? I'd say | :18:06. | :18:13. | |
it's about EUR200 million. To what extent is this project driven by | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
the ambition, by the vision, the personal obsession, of the | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
President and his family? President has been here many times. | :18:24. | :18:31. | |
He is behind the project 100%. He's really the one driving the whole | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
thing on. This being one of the first projects of the whole city, | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
we are a symbol of everything that's going to come. If we're | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
honest about it, this is a massive vanity project for him, isn't it? | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
If you think how for example Brazil here was done, I'm sure they said | :18:51. | :18:57. | |
the same thing. But Brazil has a population of 180 million or so, | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
this country has made the 700,000 people. Do they really need a | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
university that could house 8000 students? They were already got a | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
university, they've got at least two University's. You have got to | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
dream and if you've got the means, why not. Why not drive the country | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
forward and bring people from neighbouring countries here. | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
group is, most people in this country don't even get a decent | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
secondary education. How could they possibly come to this state of the | :19:28. | :19:34. | |
Art University? -- truth. That has to do with the way things are done | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
in Africa generally. I think the priorities don't have to make any | :19:40. | :19:49. | |
sense to us. But the results are here. Maybe they are not in the | :19:49. | :19:54. | |
proper order and they should do some other things first. Thanks to | :19:54. | :20:01. | |
oil, the President has access to vast wealth. Now he craves respect. | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
He's spent millions on international public relations. His | :20:05. | :20:12. | |
record, he insists, stands up to scrutiny. President, welcome to | :20:12. | :20:22. | |
:20:22. | :20:24. | ||
HARDtalk. Thank you. Mr President. There are investigators and legal | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
officials in the United States, in France, who have looked at the way | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
in which the state finances have been handled in this country, and | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
they have reached some very negative conclusions. Legal | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
documents in the United States refer to, and this is a direct | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
quote, "And ongoing family criminal conspiracy", referring to you and | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
your family and your handling of the oil revenues in this country. | :20:51. | :21:01. | |
:21:01. | :21:40. | ||
The French government has seized the Paris mansion, the art works, | :21:40. | :21:47. | |
the cars, and is seeking legal action against your son. Are you | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
prepared to see your son go to Paris and defend himself and his | :21:53. | :22:03. | |
:22:03. | :22:03. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 49 seconds | :22:03. | :22:58. | |
Leave aside France, what do you say to the people in your own country, | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
and I have spoken to some of them, who say that you and your family | :23:02. | :23:11. | |
have stolen, stolen, the resources and the assets that rightfully | :23:11. | :23:21. | |
:23:21. | :23:43. | ||
belong to all the people of this I have been very struck, because | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
I've travelled around your country, the number of infrastructure | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
projects, building projects, which are being run and financed by a | :23:52. | :24:02. | |
:24:02. | :24:36. | ||
Chinese companies. And the state of A final question, Mr President. | :24:36. | :24:42. | |
You're already one of the longest serving leader is in the world | :24:42. | :24:52. | |
:24:52. | :25:20. | ||
today. But I also wonder how long In the heart of The Jungle, they've | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
laid out the wide avenues that will be the arteries of equatorial | :25:24. | :25:31. |