Equatorial Guinea’s president names new PM

Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has named a former bank chief as prime minister, according to a decree published nearly three weeks after the previous government resigned after being deemed “ineffective.”

At the end of July the government of Manuela Roka Botey — who was the first woman to fill the role of prime minister — submitted its resignation at the request of the president, just 18 months after being appointed.

In accepting his resignation last month, the president said it was “clear that there has been a collective inability to provide effective solutions to critical problems such as the economy, social cohesion and combating corruption”.

In a decree signed Friday by Obiang and published by the presidency, he named Manuel Osa Nsue Nsua as prime minister, and said he was “charged with the administrative coordination of Equatorial Guinea”.

The newly-appointed prime minister has been the director of the national bank of Equatorial Guinea since 2012.

Equatorial Guinea’s 82-year-old president, Obiang, has ruled over his small African nation, a former Spanish colony rich in oil deposits, for 44 years.

The United Nations and non-governmental organisations frequently criticise the repression of any form of dissent in Equatorial Guinea.