Equatorial Guinea
Obiang (1979–present)

The nephew of Macías Nguema, Teodoro Obiang deposed his uncle on 3 August 1979, in a bloody coup d'état; over two weeks of civil war ensued until Macías Nguema was captured. He was tried and executed soon afterward, with Obiang succeeding him as a less bloody, but still authoritarian president.

In 1995 Mobil, an American oil company, discovered oil in Equatorial Guinea. The country subsequently experienced rapid economic development, but earnings from the country's oil wealth have not reached the population and the country ranks low on the UN human development index. 7.9% of children die before the age of 5 and more than 50% of the population lacks access to clean drinking water. President Teodoro Obiang is widely suspected of using the country's oil wealth to enrich himself and his associates. In 2006, Forbes estimated his personal wealth at $600 million.

In 2011, the government announced it was planning a new capital for the country, named Oyala. The city was renamed Ciudad de la Paz ("City of Peace") in 2017.

As of February 2016, Obiang is Africa's second-longest serving dictator after Cameroon 's Paul Biya.

Equatorial Guinea was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council 2018–19.

On 7 March 2021, there were munition explosions at a military base near the city of Bata causing 98 deaths and 600 people being injured and treated at the hospital.

In November 2022 Obiang was re-elected in the 2022 Equatorial Guinean general election with 99.7% of the vote amid accusations of fraud by the opposition.
punctuation:no_comma, change_case:english_capital