President Robert Mugabe seems to be increasingly relying on Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo for financial bailouts that are not always in the public domain, but have been filtering in the media of late.

According to The Independent, Nguema has been bankrolling the Mugabe regime for sometime, often helping him out in critical times. There are reports that Mugabe and Nguema could have joint businesses in various sectors of the economy as they have been often met without clear details of their closed discussions being released.

A reliable source told this newspaper that whenever Mugabe visits Equatorial Guinea, his delegation is usually given some gifts and trinkets to carry home.
Nguema also bailed out the Zimbabwe government between 2006 and 2007, when the country was being ravaged by hyperinflation by providing a fuel importation facility of US$220 million. The debt forms part of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s US$1,3 billion debt.

In January Nguema asked Mugabe for a security team comprising of police officers and soldiers to help counter terrorism when Equatorial Guinea hosted the African Cup of Nations.

Mugabe’s friendship with Equatorial Guinea’s authoritarian ruler came after Harare helped thwart a coup plot by a group of mercenaries led by former British Special Air Services officer Simon Mann in 2004. Mann was later extradited to Equatorial Guinea and released from there. Source: The Independent