Equatorial Guinea: Oil money draws sub-Saharan Africans
MALABO: A few years after the first US oil drillers arrived in Equatorial Guinea in 1992, hundreds of mostly West African migrants without travel or work papers followed. National police forces now estimate that one-third of the population - more than 300,000 - is from outside the country, with most migrants arriving illegally in search of much-hyped oil money.
West African day labourers for a Chinese public works company. © Rodrigo A. Nguema/IRIN
“About 10 years ago,” said retired police officer Antonio Obiang, “migrants from Nigeria and Cameroon started arriving. The first group settled here while the second group thought of only one thing - going to Europe [by] taking advantage in the 1980s of readily available visas [to Europe].”
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