Equatorial Guinea held local and parliamentary elections on Sunday that were widely expected to affirm President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's tight grip on power.
The discovery of oil in the mid-1990s has propelled the small Gulf of Guinea state to become sub-Saharan Africa's third largest crude oil exporter, outstripping its larger neighbours in the bald statistics of comparative national wealth.
Here are a few facts about this fast-growing former Spanish colony which gained its independence in 1968:
GEOGRAPHY: The country consists of a section of mainland Central Africa, sandwiched between Cameroon and Gabon, as well as Bioko island, on which the capital Malabo is situated. Other small islands, Annobon and Corisco, are to the southwest.
AREA: 28,051 sq km (10,831 sq miles)
POPULATION: 500,000 (2007)
ETHNIC BREAKDOWN - The population is mostly of Bantu-speaking origin. On the islands there are also Igbo and Efik peoples, while the inhabitants of the Rio Muni mainland section are mainly Fang and Ndowe.
RELIGION: Mainly Christian on the islands, but traditional African religions are practised in Rio Muni.
LANGUAGE: Spanish and French are the official languages, though Spanish is predominant. Fang, Bubi, Ibo and English are also spoken.
OIL/ECONOMY: Massive offshore discoveries over the past decade have boosted oil production from virtually nothing to some 380,000 barrels per day, ranking it behind only Nigeria and Angola among Sub-Saharan African producers.
-- But despite having one of the world's fastest growing economies in recent years, this has not been matched at the same pace by investments or government spending to reduce poverty.
-- The economy was expected to expand by more than 20 percent, the finance ministry said in late 2007, sustaining one of the world's fastest rates of GDP growth. The country was ranked as the tenth most corrupt in the world in 2007 by Berlin-based Transparency International.
HISTORY: The Portuguese were the first Europeans to discover the main island of Bioko, which they called Fernando Po, in the late 15th century. In the centuries that followed, control passed to Spain, Britain and back to Spain, which ruled for over a century. Spanish settlers built a vibrant cocoa-based economy which flourished until independence in 1968. A reign of terror unfolded under the first president, Francisco Macias Nguema.
-- Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo toppled his uncle Macias in a palace coup in 1979. A new constitution was adopted to usher in multi-party politics -- nominally at least -- in 1991.
-- In December 2002, Obiang was elected to a new seven-year term with 97.1 percent of the votes cast. The president ran unchallenged: all of his opponents had pulled out amid allegations of massive electoral fraud.
-- The authorities thwarted a coup bid in 2004 masterminded by a former British special forces officer, Simon Mann. The plot hit world headlines after Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested in South Africa on suspicion of bankrolling the bid.
-- Thatcher eventually agreed a plea bargain with the authorities in South Africa, having denied any involvement.
-- Mann was deported by Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea in February to face charges of plotting to overthrow Obiang. Equatorial Guinea's government said he would be put on trial, but no date has been set.
The discovery of oil in the mid-1990s has propelled the small Gulf of Guinea state to become sub-Saharan Africa's third largest crude oil exporter, outstripping its larger neighbours in the bald statistics of comparative national wealth.
Here are a few facts about this fast-growing former Spanish colony which gained its independence in 1968:
GEOGRAPHY: The country consists of a section of mainland Central Africa, sandwiched between Cameroon and Gabon, as well as Bioko island, on which the capital Malabo is situated. Other small islands, Annobon and Corisco, are to the southwest.
AREA: 28,051 sq km (10,831 sq miles)
POPULATION: 500,000 (2007)
ETHNIC BREAKDOWN - The population is mostly of Bantu-speaking origin. On the islands there are also Igbo and Efik peoples, while the inhabitants of the Rio Muni mainland section are mainly Fang and Ndowe.
RELIGION: Mainly Christian on the islands, but traditional African religions are practised in Rio Muni.
LANGUAGE: Spanish and French are the official languages, though Spanish is predominant. Fang, Bubi, Ibo and English are also spoken.
OIL/ECONOMY: Massive offshore discoveries over the past decade have boosted oil production from virtually nothing to some 380,000 barrels per day, ranking it behind only Nigeria and Angola among Sub-Saharan African producers.
-- But despite having one of the world's fastest growing economies in recent years, this has not been matched at the same pace by investments or government spending to reduce poverty.
-- The economy was expected to expand by more than 20 percent, the finance ministry said in late 2007, sustaining one of the world's fastest rates of GDP growth. The country was ranked as the tenth most corrupt in the world in 2007 by Berlin-based Transparency International.
HISTORY: The Portuguese were the first Europeans to discover the main island of Bioko, which they called Fernando Po, in the late 15th century. In the centuries that followed, control passed to Spain, Britain and back to Spain, which ruled for over a century. Spanish settlers built a vibrant cocoa-based economy which flourished until independence in 1968. A reign of terror unfolded under the first president, Francisco Macias Nguema.
-- Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo toppled his uncle Macias in a palace coup in 1979. A new constitution was adopted to usher in multi-party politics -- nominally at least -- in 1991.
-- In December 2002, Obiang was elected to a new seven-year term with 97.1 percent of the votes cast. The president ran unchallenged: all of his opponents had pulled out amid allegations of massive electoral fraud.
-- The authorities thwarted a coup bid in 2004 masterminded by a former British special forces officer, Simon Mann. The plot hit world headlines after Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested in South Africa on suspicion of bankrolling the bid.
-- Thatcher eventually agreed a plea bargain with the authorities in South Africa, having denied any involvement.
-- Mann was deported by Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea in February to face charges of plotting to overthrow Obiang. Equatorial Guinea's government said he would be put on trial, but no date has been set.
