Koto Oko, Thank you for sharing this information. I have been following this story for a while and I am glad that UNESCO has now heeded the protestations from various organisations and individuals about the source of funding for this Human Rights award. I could not understand the reasoning behind UNESCO accepting funds from a despicable, corrupt, human rights abuser such as Nguema. Best, Mboge On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 7:54 PM, oko drammeh <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > > > ** > Unesco suspends prize funded by Equatorial Guinea dictator > Obiang Nguema Mbasogo award put on hold after human rights groups accuse > Unesco of 'laundering reputation of kleptocrat' > * * Chris McGreal* in Washington > * guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 June 2010 07.39 > > Unesco has suspended a prize funded by Equatorial Guinea's president > Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Photograph: Eric Cabanis/AFP/Getty Images > > The UN's scientific and cultural organisation, Unesco, has put on hold the > award of a prize for "improving the quality of human life" paid for and > named after one of Africa's most authoritarian, brutal and corrupt rulers. > The prize, aimed at scientists, is funded with a $3m (£2m) donation by > President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of* Equatorial Guinea* who is > regarded as having made a major contribution to human misery as well as > curtailing more than a few lives. It was to have been awarded later this > month but has been suspended following an international outcry. > Obiang, 68, is known not only for having his predecessor executed and the > arbitrary arrest and torture of political opponents but for plundering his > country's oil wealth while many of its people live in poverty. > Equatorial Guinea's per capita income has risen a hundred fold in 20 years > to the highest in Africa because of oil but many of its 680,000 people > survive on less than £1 a day. Life expectancy is just 49 years. > The prize money was technically awarded to Unesco by the Obiang Nguema > Mbasogo Foundation for the Preservation of Life. Human Rights groups and > anti-corruption organisations have accused Unesco of "laundering the > reputation of a kleptocrat with an appalling human rights record". Desmond > Tutu, the former archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel peace prize winner, said > Unesco* "is allowing itself to burnish the unsavoury reputation of a > dictator"* and that the money Obiang pledged for the prize in order to > glorify himself was taken from the people of Equatorial Guinea on whom it > should now be spent. > Seven recipients of a Unesco prize for courageous journalists wrote to the > organisation objecting to an award, the* Unesco Obiang Nguema Mbasogo > International Prize for Research* , named after "a leader who oppresses > the media". > On Monday the US ambassador to Unesco, David Killion, urged the > organisation to suspend the award in a belated show of disapproval of Obiang > by Washington, which has generally overlooked the shortcomings of his rule > since the discovery of oil in Equatorial Guinea. > The US, which is the largest contributor to Unesco's budget, and some other > western nations did not raise objections in April when a majority on the > organisation's 58-nation board brushed aside protests over the award. > African nations have supported Obiang over the prize. > But yesterday, Unesco's director general, Irina Bokova, told the Unesco > board that the awarding of the prize needed to be put on hold for the good > of the organisation's reputation. > "I have heard the voices of the many intellectuals, scientists, journalists > and of course governments and parliamentarians who have appealed to me to > protect and preserve the prestige of the organisation," she said. "I have > come to you with a strong message of alarm and anxiety Š We must be > courageous and recognise our responsibilities, for it is our organisation > that is at stake." > A decision on the future of the prize will be taken at a board meeting in > October. > About 270 organisations that united to campaign against the award, > including Human Rights Watch, welcomed the delay but said that the prize > must be cancelled. > "The coalition reiterated its calls for the funds behind the prize to be > used to promote basic education and address other needs of Equatorial > Guinea's people," they said. > Obiang's government has fought back by accusing critics of the prize of > "showing their true colonialist, discriminatory, racist and prejudiced > identity, by not accepting that an African president can confer an award of > this kind". > "There exists a great deal of misperception about Equatorial Guinea, an > issue that is partly our fault since we have not always responded to > inaccuracies that have appeared in the international press or have been > perpetuated by our critics. This will now change," it said. > Changing that perception may prove difficult. > Obiang served his uncle and Equatorial Guinea's previous ruler, Francisco > Macias Nguema, as a military governor and then head of the national guard > during a bloody reign of terror during the 1970s in which it is estimated > half of the population were killed or fled abroad. Obiang seized power in > 1979, put his uncle on trial but cut the hearing short when Macias started > talking about Obiang's own crimes. Macias was then sentenced and shot. > When Equatorial Guinea was on the brink of becoming an oil rich nation in > the mid-1990s, Obiang promised that it would be the Kuwait of Africa. Few > would call it that today. > Obiang has decreed the management of petroleum revenues to be a state > secret so it is not known exactly where the billions of dollars in annual > revenue goes, except that it does not go to the people. > A US Senate inquiry found that Obiang had $700m deposited with one US bank > alone. > *Four years ago one of his sons, Teodorin, paid $35m for an eight-bedroom > mansion*, designer golf course and sprawling gardens over 6.4 hectares (16 > acres) in Malibu, California, near the house of Britney Spears even though > he is officially listed as earning just £3,000 a month as a minister in his > father's government. It was the latest addition to an array of properties > and expensive cars acquired by Obiang junior. > Equatorial Guinea state radio has declared Obiang to be a god who is "in > permanent contact with the almighty" and can "kill anyone without being > called to account". > * guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010 > > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To > unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web > interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: > http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the > List Management, please send an e-mail to: > [log in to unmask]¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤