us equatorial guinea obiang un.

The Trump administration is set to allow a West African leader accused of flagrant corruption to travel to the United States for this month’s U.N. General Assembly and cities outside New York that he has previously been barred from visiting. Two officials familiar with the matter said the State Department is processing a temporary sanctions waiver for the vice president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro “Teddy” Obiang, following recommendations that it is in the U.S. national interest to blunt growing Chinese influence in the country and boost American business interests there. Obiang has been accused, and in some cases convicted, of pilfering his impoverished country’s resources to feed a lifestyle of luxury cars, mansions and superyachts.