David Adesnik seemed shocked by this editorial in the Washington Post regarding Equatorial Guinea:
With a land mass similar to Maryland's, Equatorial Guinea has the
fortune to be Africa's third-largest oil producer. The money from black
gold helps to explain how the president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has
bought large homes in France and Morocco, as well as two in
Potomac...But oil has done little to help Equatorial Guinea's 540,000
people, some 400,000 of whom suffer from malnutrition. Those who are
hungry know better than to complain. According to State Department
reports, the president's goons have urinated on prisoners, sliced their
ears and smeared them with oil to attract stinging ants.
So it
is uncontroversial to observe that Mr. Obiang is no friend to his
people. But he is a "good friend" of the United States, at least
according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met with him last
week in Washington. "I'm very pleased to welcome the president," Ms. Rice told reporters
after the meeting. "Thank you very much for your presence here." Mr.
Obiang purred back: "We are extremely pleased and hopeful that this
relationship will continue to grow in friendship and cooperation."
In the global rankings of political and
civil liberties compiled by Freedom House, only seven countries rate
worse than Equatorial Guinea. If President Bush and Ms. Rice want
anyone to take their pro-democracy rhetoric seriously, they must stop
throwing bouquets to odious dictators. The meeting with Mr. Obiang was
presumably a reward for his hospitable treatment of U.S. oil firms,
though we cannot be sure since the State Department declined our
invitation to comment. But Ms. Rice herself argues that U.S. foreign
policy spent too long coddling corruption and autocracy in Arab oil
states. Surely she doesn't have a different standard for Africa?
I find it amazing that David seems so blithely unaware of the often two-faced nature of the administration when it comes to "democracy promotion" in states that happen to be rich in oil. He "may not know the first thing about Equatorial Guinea," but surely he has heard of Azerbaijan:
Next week, after years of waiting for an unequivocal nod of Western approval, President Ilham H. Aliyev of Azerbaijan will fly to Washington to be received at the White House, a visit his administration hopes will lift his stature.
Being a guest of President Bush has been billed in Mr. Aliyev's
circle as a chance for the 44-year-old president — dogged by
allegations of corruption, election rigging and repression of
opposition figures — to gain more international legitimacy.
"We
have long waited for this visit," said Ali Gasanov, a senior
presidential adviser. "Now it has been scheduled, and we hope that we
will be able to discuss global issues."
Who is Ilham Aliyev?
Mr. Aliyev is a secular Muslim politician who is steering oil and gas
to Western markets and who has given political and military support to
the Iraq war. But his administration has never held a clean election
and has used riot police to crush antigovernment demonstrations.
[...]
Ali Kerimli, leader of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, noted that
when Mr. Aliyev was elected in 2003 in a vote deemed neither free nor
fair, the White House withheld an invitation, awaiting improvement by
Azerbaijan in promoting civil society and recognizing human rights.
"It is difficult for Azerbaijan's democratic forces to understand what
changed," said Mr. Kerimli, who was beaten by the police as were
several thousand demonstrators during a crackdown on a protest over
fraudulent parliamentary elections last fall. The demonstration had
been peaceful until the police rushed in with clubs.
"I think the
White House must explain what has happened when three years ago Aliyev
was not wanted for a reception in the White House, and now he falsifies
another election and is received," Mr. Kerimli said.
[...]
Moreover, Azerbaijan's government is often described as one of the
world's most corrupt. A criminal case now in federal court in New York
against three international speculators describes enormous shakedowns
and bribes in the late 1990's at Socar, Azerbaijan's state oil company.
Mr. Aliyev was a Socar vice president at the time.
Last
year the Azerbaijani government showed signs of paranoia, arresting
several people shortly before the parliamentary election and accusing
them of plotting an armed coup.
Public evidence for the charges
has been scarce, and a lawyer for two of the men held in solitary
confinement for months since — Farhad Aliyev, the former minister of
economics, and his brother Rafiq — has urged Congress to raise issues
of their treatment when Mr. Aliyev comes to Washington. (The president
is not related to the accused men.)
So, what kind of message is the favorable treatment of tyrants like Aliyev and Obiang sending? Maybe this one:
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, a former wrestler and bird lover,
said on Tuesday anyone aspiring to his job needed the patience of a
vulture as he planned to rule for at least another three decades.
"Those
who want to be president in this country, they have to wait like a
vulture, patiently, for a very long time," Jammeh told a rally of his
supporters weeks after what his government said was the latest in a
string of coup attempts.
"They have to wait at least 30 years,"
he said, adding he would consider handing over power only once he had
succeeded in his ambition of turning the tiny former British colony
into an oil producer and a "role model for Africa".
Gambia is a tiny sliver of a country completely surrounded by Senegal except for its coastline. Does anyone believe that Gambia's significance will increase should oil be discovered there? Based on the kid gloves treatment of Obiang and Aliyev, does anyone believe that Jammeh will be criticized for planning to remain in office for thirty years should oil be discovered on Gambian territory?
No, it's not always about the oil. But sometimes it is.
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