There are few checks on the activities of the security forces and hardly anyone leaves prison without a beating. But commercial considerations mean such companies are even less interested in issues of human rights and corruption than foreign governments. All the signs are that much of the considerable wealth about to descend on Equatorial Guinea will be diverted away from the needs of the people and towards the pockets of the President and his clique. Agriculture makes up 60 per cent of GDP and almost all exports. The main domestic food crops are cassava, sweet potato and banana.
Industry is limited to small-scale food and timber processing.
The only mineral exploited is panned alluvial gold. But the oil reserves recently found on- and offshore should meet domestic needs. Most people are Bantu-speaking but there are Ibo and Efik people on the islands who have migrated from Nigeria. On the mainland most people are Fang or Ndowe. The official language is Spanish, but people's first language would be based on the ethnic breakdown above.