UNITED NATIONS, September 1 -- With Equatorial Guinea under scrutiny for executions and locking up reporters, it's Permanent Representative to the UN Anatolio Ndong Mba spoke to the Press on Wednesday.
Inner City Press, which covered the Equato-guinean response to the US Senate's report on corrupt finance six months ago, asked Anatolio Ndong Mba where the son of President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue got the $100 million he transferred into the US. Video here, from Minute 26:03.
Anatolio Ndong Mba replied that the president's son Teodorin is “free to do his business.” But Inner City Press asked, what is his business? Video here, from Minute 30:04.
“He could make buildings, he could rent houses,” Anatolio Ndong Mba said. But the president's son has a $30 million mansion in Malibu and a recording studio.
Anatolio Ndong Mba argued that with so much money coming into the country from oil companies, with so much “development,” money could not be diverted. “Morocco invests,” he said, giving an example.
Beyond the executions, what about crack downs on the media, Inner City Press asked, including the imprisonment of Rodrigo Nguema, the only foreign correspondent in Malabo? Video here, from Minute 33:44.
To this was was no answer except that the country aimed to improve. Anatolio Ndong Mba mentioned the Emirates, saying that in other counties, no on asks where money comes from.
After the press conference, after the applause of the mission's ringers, Inner City Press asked Anatolio Ndong Mba if his country for example supported a referendum in Western Sahara with independence as an option. No, Anatolio Ndong Mba said.
What about Kosovo, Inner City Press asked. Anatolio Ndong Mba said Equatorial Guinea's foreign policy favors Kosovar independence. Both positions are America's. But a staffer of Anatolio Ndong Mba explained that it comes down to relations with Morocco. Consistency be damned. Watch this site.
