by CHRISTIAN FREYMEYER and SAVIOR MWAMBWA
President Barack Obama in the Cabinet Room of the White House after a meeting with, from left, Malawi President Joyce Banda; Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma; and Cape Verde Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves, March 28, 2013. PHOTO/Voice of America
It’s been more than 100 days since Boko Haram—the terrorist group wreaking havoc in northeast Nigeria—kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls. Unfortunately, the group looks like it has no sign of slowing down. In a cross-border attack last week, perhaps one of their highest profile abductions yet, the group kidnapped the wife of Amadou Ali, Cameroon’s Deputy Prime Minister.
Boko Haram, and African security in general, will certainly be high on the agenda of the US-Africa Summit, which launches Monday. Billed as the “first such event of its kind,” President Obama has invited 50 African heads of state to the White House.
It’s no secret that poverty and a lack of development can help produce a breeding ground for terrorist groups like Boko Haram. So it should come as no surprise that northeast Nigeria, the terrorist group’s home base, has the highest rate of absolute poverty, and some of the worst unemployment rates, in the country.
Across the Gulf of Guinea, corruption and financial secrecy are allowing a kleptocrat to purchase a mansion in California, Lamborghinis, and almost US$3 million worth of Michael Jackson memorabilia. The person in question is Teodorin Obiang, the son of Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea.
Global Witness, a London-based advocacy group and member of the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC), has followed Teodorin’s exploits for years and allege that he siphoned more than US$300 million out of his father’s state and into the U.S. and Europe, all with the help of shell companies and hidden bank accounts.
President Obiang will attend this week’s summit, and will even deliver opening remarks for a daylong side event organized by the Corporate Council on Africa.
Center for International Policy for more