Mr. Obiang has been in power for nearly 40 years, taking power in a coup by ousting his own uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, who was shot by firing squad.
In order to maintain access to those resources Russia encouraged the military coup.
In 2006 former prime minister Thaksin Chinawat—a charismatic populist who drew the majority of his support from the urban working classes and rural poor—was deposed and forced into exile in a bloodless coup.