Equatorial Guinea

Obiang, 75, has ruled the West African country of 1.2 million people for 39 years.

He took power in a bloody coup in August 1979 by ousting his own uncle, first post-independence president Francisco Macias Nguema, who was shot by firing squad. Obiang’s regime regularly comes under fire from rights groups for violent suppression of the opposition, civil society groups and the media. The country has seen a string of attempts to overthrow or assassinate the president.

Equatorial Guinea is one of Africa’s most recent oil exporters, beginning exploitation of its oil and gas deposits in the early 1990s when several mainly US oil companies moved in.

Petroleum production dominates the economy. Oil income, however, has dropped heavily since 2014, amid a global fall in prices.

Gross national income per person dropped from $12,850 in 2014 to $7,180 in 2016, according to the World Bank.

A large section of its population live below the poverty line and power cuts are frequent.

Human Rights Watch says the government spent only around three percent of its budget on health and education in 2008 and 2011, for when data is available, while devoting a large chunk to major infrastructure.