Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo

Who is Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo?

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is an Equatoguinean politician who has been President of Equatorial Guinea since 1979. He ousted his uncle, dictator Francisco Macías Nguema, in an August 1979 military coup and has overseen Equatorial Guinea's emergence as an important oil producer, beginning in the 1990s. Obiang was Chairperson of the African Union from 31 January 2011 to 29 January 2012.

Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent's largest producers of oil, but ranks very poorly in the United Nations human development index. Most Equatorial Guineans, for instance, have no access to clean drinking water.