Why don't we hear more about Equatorial Guinea?  Opinions about
events beyond our borders. June 24 2008 1:34 PM  Who's Africa's
Worst Dictator?  Hint: It's probably not Robert Mugabe.
(Continued from Page 1)  To understand what happened next, and
to understand a crucial reason why we hear little about Obiang,
you need to know that since oil was found in the country's
waters in the Gulf of Guinea, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Chevron,
and other firms have invested more than $10 billion to extract
the treasure, transforming Equatorial Guinea into the third-
largest energy exporter in sub-Saharan Africa. But the first
wave of revenues seemed to disappear—the people of Equatorial
Guinea remained as poor, ill-housed, uneducated, and unhealthy
as ever. Rather than putting the money into a transparent
government account and using the proceeds for social services,
Obiang hoarded it in accounts he personally controlled at Riggs
Bank in Washington, D.C.  An investigation by the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency le