MALABO, Equatorial Guinea – As Pope Leo XIV arrives in Equatorial Guinea, the nation’s vast offshore oil wealth stands in stark contrast to the widespread poverty afflicting more than half of its nearly 2 million people. Revenues from oil, which accounts for almost half of the country’s GDP and over 90% of exports, have primarily enriched the ruling Obiang family, rather than the broader population, according to documentation by rights groups like Human Rights Watch and court cases in France and Spain.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 83, has maintained power for 47 years since 1979. His administration is accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism, systematically suppressing dissent through harassment, arrest, and intimidation of political opponents, critics, and journalists.
The discovery of offshore oil about 30 years ago transformed Equatorial Guinea’s economy, yet this economic shift has not translated into improved living conditions for the majority. The country consistently ranks among the bottom 10 nations in Transparency International’s annual corruption perception index, reflecting the deep entrenchment of wealth concentration at the top.
Wealth Concentration and State Power
The state apparatus under President Obiang functions to protect and expand the accumulated wealth of the ruling family. The government faces rampant accusations of suppressing any challenge to its authority, ensuring that the benefits of resource extraction remain within a narrow elite. This systematic underpayment of labor and privatization of collective resources, such as oil, has created a permanent condition of poverty for the majority.
The Catholic Church, despite Equatorial Guinea being officially secular and 75% Catholic, is deeply embedded within the existing power structure. Church leaders are described as “very much interconnected intrinsically with the government,” according to U.S.-based activist Tutu Alicante of the EG Justice rights group. Alicante noted that this connection stems from both the fear instilled by the government and the “monetary gains that the church derives from this government.”
Rev. Fortunatus Nwachukwu, No. 2 in the Vatican’s missionary evangelization office, affirmed the church’s position, stating, “Should the church go to war against the government? Surely no.” He added that the church’s mission is to preach justice and defend human dignity, but within the confines of not directly challenging the state’s power.
Limited Reforms Amidst Deep Poverty
Pope Leo XIV, during his arrival speech in Cameroon last week, criticized “the chains of corruption — which disfigure authority and strip it of its credibility” and an “idolatrous thirst for profit.” However, such pronouncements, while acknowledging symptoms, do not address the structural foundations of wealth concentration and state repression.
In recent years, the government has introduced an anti-corruption law and is working to fund an anti-corruption commission. Samuel Kaninda, Transparency International’s regional advisor for Africa, stated that for these measures to be effective, the commission and the judiciary must be truly independent. These reform efforts, however, operate within the existing framework, offering symbolic concessions that prevent deeper structural challenges to the ruling class’s control over national resources and the state.
The first papal visit since St. John Paul II came 44 years ago in 1982 has provided some temporary economic activity, such as for seamstress Tumi Carine, who reported increased business making dresses with the pope’s image. Carine expressed gratitude for the pope’s visit, highlighting a brief, localized economic uplift that stands apart from the systemic issues of poverty and wealth extraction that define the nation’s economy. The pope’s schedule includes meetings with government authorities, diplomats, and visits to a psychiatric hospital and a prison, concluding with a prayer at a memorial for victims of a 2021 military barracks blast, now in its fifth year since the incident.