1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état

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1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état
Map of Equatorial Guinea.
Date 3–18 August 1979 Location Malabo, Equatorial Guinea 3°45′7.43″N 8°46′25.32″E / 3.7520639°N 8.7737000°E / 3.7520639; 8.7737000 Result Coup attempt succeeds Francisco Macías Nguema is imprisoned, tried, and executed on September 29, 1979, along with six of his allies
Belligerents
Government of Equatorial Guinea	Supreme Military Council
Commanders and leaders
Francisco Macías Nguema	Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Casualties and losses
About 400 total killed
class=notpageimage| Nexus of coup in Malabo (marked green), Equatorial Guinea

This article is part of a series about Teodoro Obiang
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History of Equatorial Guinea
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The 1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état happened on August 3, 1979, when President Francisco Macías Nguema's nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, overthrew him in a bloody coup. Fighting between loyalists and rebels continued until Macías Nguema was captured fleeing for Cameroon on August 18. He was sentenced to death for the crime of genocide against the Bubi people and other crimes committed. Macías Nguema was executed by firing squad on September 29, 1979. Teodoro has remained President since then.

Background

After

In the summer of 1979, Macías ordered several members of his own family killed. This led Obiang and several other members of Macías' inner circle to fear that Macías was no longer acting rationally. Obiang was Macías' nephew, as well as the brother of one of the victims.[2]

Obiang, who also served as deputy defense minister, overthrew his uncle on August 3, 1979. The coup was backed by the nation's military and Macías' Cuban palace guard; several foreign embassies, including those of Spain and the United States, were aware of the plot in advance and provided financial humanitarian aid in its aftermath. Upon his ouster, Macías and his personal bodyguard fled to Macías' home village of Nzeng-Ayong and took up residence in a fortified bunker protected by military loyalists. The ensuing conflict between Obiang and Macías' forces killed 400 people; it ended when Macías burned his personal treasury and fled toward the Cameroon border. A force led by naval commander Florencio Mayé captured Macías on August 18, and he and six of his allies were executed on September 29.^[1] Obiang has remained president of Equatorial Guinea since the coup.^[3]

See also

• 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt

Further reading

• Geoffrey Jensen. 2019. "Tyranny, Communism, and U.S. Policy in Equatorial Guinea, 1968–1979." Diplomatic History.

References