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afrol.com, 28 September - Spanish government sources have confirmed that the Spanish president, José María Aznar, will visit Equatorial Guinea within the next weeks, afrol.com was informed today by ASODEGUE (Asociación de Solidaridad Democrática con Guinea Ecuatorial). The principal motives for the visit seem to be oil and the interests of the Spanish oil company RESPOL in obtaining concessions in Guinea. The visit by Aznar is not to be carried out before the National Day, celebrated on 12 October. It is expected that an important Spanish delegation will go to Equatorial Guinea soon to prepare the visit of President Aznar. The Equatorial Guinean-Spanish relationship lately has recovered from years of distance, marked by the visit to Malabo by a high ranking official from the Spanish presidency on 3 August and the following talks between Aznar and Guinean President Teodoro Obiang in New York. The Spanish officials have changed their rhetoric toward Equatorial Guinea lately, underlining their intentions of "economic cooperation" and the defence of democracy and human rights in Guinea. The reality is that Equatorial Guinea has changed dramatically in one way the last years. The discovery and commercialization of oil has produced an economic boom, and next year, it is predicted that the country, with some 400.000 inhabitants, will become Africa's fourth biggest oil producer. President Obiang lately declared that there was a possibility that Equatorial Guinea "within few months" was to join the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). However optimistic this assessment by Obiang, it remains true that Equatorial Guinea now possesses a key "argument" to improve its international relationships. The oil, thus, also is the major argument for the new, enhanced relationship between Spain and Guinea. Another related circumstance is the recent appointment of a new Equatorial Guinean ambassador to Spain. Last month, Pastor Micha Ondo filled the post of Guinean ambassador, which has been empty since February 1999. Ondo came from the post as ambassador in the US, where he achieved very important contracts and contacts for his country. It was Ondo who introduced the American oil companies to Equatorial Guinea, and these companies today control the vast majority of the oil production in the country. Official Guinean and Spanish sources state that one of Ondo's aims in Madrid is to achieve the participation of the Spanish oil company REPSOL in the Guinean oil adventure. Spain has refrained from doing major investments in Equatorial Guinea in the 1990's due to the extremely poor human rights records of the country. Though so far refraining from an economic cooperation with Equatorial Guinea, Spain cannot claim to have had an active policy in "defending democracy and human rights" in Guinea. Recent events demonstrate Spain will not let its economic interests depend on human rights issues. It is not the first time Aznar visits a regime of the same calibre as the Equatorial Guinean. They always end in high-flown declarations about "defending democracy and human rights", some gestures to the opposition and contracts for Spanish companies. Source: Based on ASODEGUE
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