Washington Seeks Cancellation of UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Prize

This week, the fate of the UNESCO-Obiang Nguema prize will be determined. The United States proposes canceling the distinction named for the president of Equatorial Guinea despite support for the prize among African officials.

A storm is brewing over Washington’s relations with Malabo. The United States is leading the charge against the UNESCO-Obiang Nguema prize for research in life sciences, which, though instituted in 2008, has never been awarded due to successive long polemics.

During the course of the opening session of the Executive Council of UNESCO on October 11, the American UNESCO delegation explained to the press its proposal on October 8 to simply cancel the prize.

“We could not have known what this prize would have generated,” explained a senior official of the American delegation to UNESCO, referring to an NGO-initiated campaign against the said distinction. “The prize tarnishes the organization’s honor … Now we know that it is not viable. We are very concerned about the negative effects that its adoption had and will have on UNESCO if it is not canceled.”

Concerns since the Award’s Inception

To justify its point of view, Washington expressed its fear of a rupture between the organization and non-governmental organizations. “UNESCO is a unique organization which was designed to be influenced by civil society, which does not want this prize,” explained the same representative of the American delegation. The United States has expressed its “concerns” about the prize since its creation in 2008.

Washington’s position seems courageous — American businesses are among the principal operators of Equatorial Guinea’s petroleum sector — but it is hardly enough to bring about the prize’s cancellation. The unusual media coverage of the case on the part of the United States is unusual at UNESCO, an institution where, even according to the American delegation, decisions are usually reached by consensus.

In fact, the rancor of certain Arab countries following the rejection of the Egyptian candidate Farouk Hosni last year under extravagant conditions will not help Washington build much of a movement in favor of its proposal.

North Versus South?

Furthermore, Teodoro Obiang Nguema’s initiative enjoys, above all, the support of numerous African representatives. The opinions of the “Western” camp at UNESCO do not have much weight relative to those of the Southern countries. It totals only 16 seats out of 58, Eastern Europe included. This is without even counting that it is “insufficiently united,” according to an NGO member. The very engaged position of certain notably Scandinavian countries conflicts with the more measured tones of countries like France, for example.

Finally, if Western NGOs attack the president of Equatorial Guinea over issues of human rights and corruption, the Africans remark maliciously that there is also a UNESCO-L’Oréal prize, though the main stakeholder of this cosmetics line, Liliane Bettencourt, is in hot water with the French justice system, notably over alleged fiscal fraud.

For his part, the Senegalese representative to UNESCO, Papa Momar Diop, is attempting mediation with Equatorial Guinea. One of the proposed compromise solutions would consist of changing the name of the prize. But the American delegation strongly rejects this. “We do not think that we can continue with this prize. We must find a more creative solution,” reaffirmed the same representative of the American delegation on Monday.

Will the United States go so far as to threaten to withdraw from UNESCO? “We’re not at that point yet,” the American delegation assures. Under pressure from Ronald Reagan, Washington left the organization, which it found consumed too much funding and was not malleable enough in the cadre of the Cold War. This withdrawal lasted almost 19 years…