Ruslan Obiang Nsue, Equatorial Guinea president’s son jailed amid rivalry with half-brother

A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Ruslan Obiang Nsue, one of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s sons, to six years in prison for illegally selling a state-owned aircraft, a move analysts say underscores an intense succession battle within Africa’s longest-ruling family.

The Supreme Court ruled that Obiang Nsue, 50, a former head of the national airline Ceiba Intercontinental, sold an ATR 72-500 plane to a Spanish company and pocketed the proceeds.

The court, however, offered him an option to avoid jail if he reimburses about $255,000 to the airline and pays damages and a fine to the state, according to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo.

Obiang Nsue was placed under house arrest in 2023 on the orders of his powerful half-brother, Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the man widely seen as his father’s heir apparent.

The court also acquitted Nsue of separate charges of embezzlement and abuse of office.

The conviction is the latest twist in what political analysts describe as a bitter rivalry between the president’s sons, rooted in what is believed to be a looming succession struggle in the oil-rich Central African nation.

President Obiang, 83, has ruled Equatorial Guinea for 46 years, making him the world’s longest-serving head of state.

In 2021, a French court convicted Vice-President Obiang Mangue of embezzling public funds, handing him a suspended jail sentence and a $35 million fine, a ruling that further spotlighted corruption and power tussles at the heart of the regime.