[A picture taken a just a few years ago]
Following reference 1, another snippet of educational news was brought to me by Microsoft News this morning from reference 2.
All about how an eighty year old dictator is running for his sixth term as president of the small country of equatorial west Africa called Equatorial Guinea.
A country made up of a coastal block of land perhaps 100 miles west-east by 100 kilometres north-south, plus one big island and several small islands, one of which is just south of the equator, with the rest of the country being just north. The capital used to be, perhaps still is, in the big island. A population of something over 1.5m - so small by African standards.
A country which had its origins in a deal made centuries ago between Spain and Portugal, swapping a large block of land which is now the western part of Brazil for a small block of land on the west African coast. A rather chequered history since, with the Spanish leaving in 1968.
A dictator who, it is said, is less blood thirsty than his uncle, whom he deposed and then executed back in 1979. A country which became oil rich in the 1990's, although revenues are now falling. With a lot of this money winding up in the coffers of the dictator and his family. With smaller payouts for members of the security forces which keep the whole show on the road. From which arrangement, I associate to those of Myanmar.
It seems quite likely that there will be trouble when he finally expires. Will his family manage to hang on?
PS: all smiles when President Obama and his wife visited in 2014. Snap from Wikipedia.
References
Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/11/starship-enterprise.html.
Reference 2: World's longest-standing president seeks to extend 43-year rule - Bate Felix, Reuters - 2022.
Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_Guinea.
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