As published by The New Age, 8 February 2011 The world media have been so focused on the story evolving in Egypt over the past two weeks that most missed the announcement of the name of the new President of the African Union. What were the leaders of Africa thinking about when they elected President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea as incoming AU President?  We are told that a mechanical rotation of the presidency through the various regions of Africa is observed. It was Central Africa’s turn and the best the Central African region could come up with was…

SAIIA Occasional Paper, No 51, November 2009

eAfrica, volume 2, April 2004 Discharged and jobless, Africa's former combatants find dubious work as mercenaries. THE foiled coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea in March 2004 provided an urgent reminder of the destabilising consequences when two of Africa's most troubling unsolved problems intersect: poor governance and the platoons of former soldiers and guerrilla fighters left scattered and idling across the continent's former battlefields. The one creates a job market for the opportunistic other.