Mr Obiang has been in power for nearly 40 years, taking power in a coup by ousting his own uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, who was shot by firing squad.
In order to maintain access to those resources Russia encouraged the military coup.
Regardless of whether the Traoré régime’s reports of attempted coups are real or not, it seems very probable that there will be more to come.
In 2006 former prime minister Thaksin Chinawat, a charismatic populist who drew the majority of his support from the urban working classes and rural poor, was deposed and forced into exile in a bloodless coup.