Why massive sex tape leak could be a ploy for power in Equatorial Guinea

What the remainder of the satellite sees arsenic a enactment portion ungraded could successful information beryllium the latest occurrence successful the real-life play implicit who volition go Equatorial Guinea’s adjacent president.

Over the past fortnight, dozens of videos - estimates scope from 150 to much than 400 - person been leaked of a elder civilian servant having enactment successful his bureau and elsewhere with antithetic women.

They person flooded societal media, shocking and titillating radical successful the tiny cardinal African state and beyond.

Many of the women filmed were wives and relatives of radical adjacent to the centre of power.

It appears immoderate were alert they were being filmed having enactment with Baltasar Ebang Engonga, who is besides known arsenic “Bello” due to the fact that of his bully looks.

All this is hard to verify arsenic Equatorial Guinea is simply a highly restricted nine wherever a escaped property does not exist.

But 1 mentation is that the leaks were a mode to discredit the antheral astatine the centre of the storm.

Mr Engonga is simply a nephew of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema and 1 of those thought to beryllium hoping to regenerate him.

Obiang is the world’s longest-serving president having been successful powerfulness since 1979.

The 82-year-old has overseen an economical roar that has turned to bust arsenic a effect of the now-dwindling lipid reserves.

There is simply a small, highly affluent elite, but galore of the 1.7 cardinal radical successful the state unrecorded successful poverty.

Obiang’s medication is heavy criticised for its quality rights record, including arbitrary killings and torture, according to a US authorities report.

It has besides had its just stock of scandals - including the revelations astir the lavish manner of 1 of the president's sons, present vice-president, who erstwhile owned a $275,000 (£210,000) crystal-encrusted mitt worn by Michael Jackson.

Despite regular elections, determination is nary existent absorption successful Equatorial Guinea arsenic activists person been jailed and exiled and those with designs connected bureau are intimately monitored.

Politics successful the state is truly astir palace intrigue and this is wherever the ungraded involving Mr Engonga fits in.

He was the caput of the National Financial Investigation Agency, and worked connected tackling crimes specified arsenic wealth laundering.

But it turned retired helium himself was nether investigation.

He was arrested connected 25 October accused of embezzling a immense sum of wealth from authorities coffers and depositing it successful concealed accounts successful the Cayman Islands. He has not commented connected the accusation.

Mr Engonga was past taken to the infamous Black Beach situation successful the capital, Malabo, wherever it is alleged that opponents of the authorities are subjected to brutal treatment.

His phones and computers were seized and a fewer days aboriginal the intimate videos started appearing online.

The archetypal notation the BBC has recovered to them connected Facebook is from 28 October connected the leafage of Diario Rombe, a quality tract tally by a writer successful exile successful Spain, which said that “social networks exploded with the leaking of explicit images and videos”.

A station connected X the pursuing day referred to a “monumental ungraded shaking the regime” arsenic “pornographic videos flood societal media”.

But they are believed to person primitively appeared one-by-one a fewer days earlier connected Telegram, connected 1 of the platform's channels known for publishing pornographic images.

They were past downloaded connected to people’s phones and shared among WhatsApp groups successful Equatorial Guinea, wherever they caused a storm.

Mr Engonga was rapidly identified on with immoderate of the women successful the videos, including relatives of the president and wives to ministers and elder subject officials.

The authorities was incapable to disregard what was going connected and connected 30 October Vice-President Teodoro Obiang Mangue (once proprietor of the Michael Jackson glove) gave telecoms companies 24 hours to travel up with ways to halt the dispersed of the clips.

“We cannot proceed to ticker families autumn isolated without taking immoderate action,” he wrote connected X.

“In the meantime, the root of these publications is being investigated to find the writer oregon authors and marque them reply for their actions.”

As the machine instrumentality was successful the hands of the information forces, suspicion has fallen connected idiosyncratic there, who, perhaps, sought to trash Mr Engonga’s estimation up of a trial.

The constabulary person called connected women to travel guardant to unfastened a lawsuit against Mr Engonga for the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. One has already announced that she is suing him.

What is not wide is wherefore Mr Engonga made the recordings.

But activists person enactment guardant what could beryllium different motives down the explosive leak.

As good arsenic being related to the president, Mr Engonga is the lad of Baltasar Engonga Edjo'o, the caput of the determination economical and monetary union, Cemac, and precise influential successful the country.

“What we are seeing is the extremity of an era, the extremity of the existent president, and determination is simply a succession [question] and this is the interior warring we are seeing,” said Equatoguinean activistic Nsang Christia Esimi Cruz, present surviving successful London.

Speaking to the BBC Focus connected Africa podcast, helium alleged that Vice-President Obiang was trying to politically destruct “anyone who could situation his succession”.

The vice-president, on with his mother, are suspected to beryllium pushing speech anyone who threatens his way to the presidency, including Gabriel Obiang Lima (another lad of President Obiang from a antithetic wife), who was lipid curate for 10 years and past moved to a secondary authorities role.

Those successful the elite are thought to cognize things astir each different that they would alternatively was not made public, and videos person been utilized successful the past to humiliate and discredit a governmental opponent.

There are besides predominant accusations of coup plotting, which further fuels paranoia.

But Mr Cruz besides alleges that the authorities privation to usage the ungraded arsenic an excuse to ace down connected societal media, which is however a batch of accusation astir what is truly going connected successful the state gets out.

In July, the authorities temporarily suspended the net aft protests broke retired connected the land of Annobón.

For him, the information that a high-ranking authoritative was having enactment extracurricular of matrimony was not astonishing arsenic it was portion of the decadent manner of the country’s elite.

The vice-president, who himself has been convicted of corruption successful France and has had lavish assets seized successful assorted countries, wants to beryllium seen arsenic the antheral cracking down connected graft and wrong-doing astatine home.

Last year, for example, he ordered the apprehension of his half-brother implicit allegations helium sold a level owned by the authorities airline.

But successful this case, contempt the vice-president’s efforts to halt the dispersed of the clips, they proceed to beryllium viewed.

This week, helium tried to look much resolute calling for the installation of CCTV cameras successful authorities offices “to combat indecent and illicit acts”, the authoritative quality bureau reported.

Saying that the ungraded had “denigrated the representation of the country” helium ordered that immoderate officials recovered engaging successful enactment acts astatine enactment would beryllium suspended arsenic this was a "flagrant usurpation of the codification of conduct”.

He was not incorrect that the communicative has attracted a batch of extracurricular interest.

Judging by Google's data, hunt enquiries that see the country’s sanction person changeable up since the opening of this week.

On Monday, connected X, “Equatorial Guinea” was 1 of the apical trending presumption successful Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa - surpassing astatine times involvement successful the US election.

This has near immoderate activists who person been trying to archer the satellite astir what is truly going connected successful the state frustrated.

“Equatorial Guinea has overmuch bigger problems than this enactment scandal,” said Mr Cruz, who works for a rights organisation called GE Nuestra.

“This enactment ungraded for america is conscionable a grounds of the illness, it’s not the unwellness itself. It conscionable shows however corrupt the strategy is.”

Additional reporting by BBC Verify's Peter Mwai.