Equatorial Guinea may hand over tyrant for trial

THE African dictator who gave sanctuary to Yahya Jammeh, the Gambian tyrant, has hinted that he may be willing to hand him over to face trial for human rights abuses.

Teodoro Obiang, the long-running president of Equatorial Guinea, took in Mr Jammeh last January after the Gambian president unexpectedly lost the election to Adama Barrow, who once worked as a security guard in London.

Mr Jammeh’s downfall was hailed as a David-and-goliath victory for democracy in tiny Gambia, where he had ruled for 22 years. But his departure to Equatorial Guinea led many of those who suffered human rights abuses during his regime to assume that he would never face trial.

However, despite a presumption that Mr Obiang would dismiss extradition requests out of hand, he said in a rare interview last week that they would be studied and “considered”.

“If there is a request, I will analyse it with my lawyers,” he told Radio France Internationale, in his first public comment on the matter.

Mr Obiang, 75, took in Mr Jammeh on Jan 22 last year as part of a deal brokered by the regional ECOWAS power bloc to persuade him to step down peacefully.

It was widely speculated at the time that Mr Obiang’s offer was made partly as a gesture of solidarity between one African dictator and another. The Equatorial Guinean leader, who seized power in 1979, has just as dismal a human rights record as Mr Jammeh.

Reed Brody, a lawyer for the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, told The Daily Telegraph: “Obiang’s response shows that, dictator solidarity aside, he won’t be able to just brush aside a well-grounded request for Jammeh’s extradition.”