Yayah Jammeh’s palace hideout in Equitorial Guinea has been revealed.  The former Gambia dictator is reported to be hunkering down in a plush presidential palace in Mongomo owned by Equatorial Guinea’s strongman Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Jammeh, who has lived undisturbed in the country for over two years, has kept a low profile. 

According to Tutu Alicante,  a U.S based human rights lawyer from Equatorial Guinea, Jammeh is living a luxurious life in Mongomo. 

“Obiang has three palaces in Mongomo — all big, gaudy-looking palaces like Saddam Hussein had. We’ve heard from contacts that Jammeh is in one of them,” Alicante told Foreign Policy, a U.S based magazine.

Mongomo is the Kanilai of Equatorial Guinea. The hometown of Obiang has been transformed from a backwater village to a modern town with a private airport, a new international standard golf course and a football stadium that hosted games for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. 

Jammeh’s farm is in the Moka Valley in Oyala, a picturesque area of mountains and waterfall and the new seat of government.  Last year Obiang moved the government headquarters from the coastal city of Malabo to Oyala. The city is surrounded by several national parks and is not far from the eastern border with Gabon. 

“The ruling Obiang family already [has] land here themselves, and they’ve given a chunk to Jammeh to farm,” Alicante said.

Jammeh who is now a tenant farmer was last year pictured with Obiang admiring what appeared to be Jammeh’s new farm.  And they were recently seen dancing together in a video celebrating the new year with Congolese musician, Koffi Olomide.

Obiang and Jammeh have had a long cordial relationship.  In 2013, Obiang made a state visit to The Gambia where he wined and dined with Jammeh at his farm in Kanilai. They have also been neighbours before, owning adjacent mansions in the wealthy suburb of Potomac, Maryland, U.S.A.

Obiang, Africa’s longest serving president, has guaranteed the protection of his friend, who is in exile in his country, from any extradition. He told reporters last year after meeting Alpha Condé, the president of Guinea and the then chairman of the African Union that Jammeh “deserved protection and respect” as a former African leader.    

“I believe that the stance of protecting former heads of state is a correct one. I hail Alpha Condé who told me he will not accept any demand for Yahya Jammeh’s extradition. Even I will not accept it.

“We are in full agreement that Yahya Jammeh must be protected. He must be respected as a former African leader. Because this is a guarantee for other African leaders that they will not be harassed after they leave power.”

Obiang has been president of the oil rich tiny central African country since 1979 when he staged a coup to oust his uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, another brutal dictator.

He has been the target of attempted coups in the past, most famously in 2004 by the British mercenary Simon Mann and Mark Thatcher son of the former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Although Equatorial Guinea is Africa’s third biggest oil producer, more than half the population lives below the poverty line.