Dictator styles himself as ‘God’

EQUATORIAL Guinea has a long history of attempted coups against its leader, a dictator who recently styled himself “God” and is alleged to eat his opponents’ testicles.

The tiny west African state, consisting of a few islands and a patch of mainland between Gabon and Cameroon, recently discovered vast oil reserves.

In an armed coup in 1979, the current President Teodoro Obiang Nguema M’basogo seized power from his bloodthirsty uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema.

Obiang reinforced his grip on the country with the help of the army and - in a demonstration of his own ruthlessness - he executed his uncle.

Severo Moto Nsa, an exiled opposition politician based in Spain, has testified to the continuing brutality of Obiang’s regime.

He reportedly described the president as an “authentic cannibal” who would eat Moto Nsa’s testicles if he returned to the country.

Obiang was born in 1942 on the mainland and received military training in Spain.

In July this year, one of Obiang’s aides took to the airwaves on state-run radio to declare that the president was to be regarded as the country’s “God”.