US group honors Equatorial Guinea leader for 400 years of African-American History 

NEW YORK (September 27, 2019) – H.R. 1242 Resilience Project will honor His Excellency Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea today on the sidelines of 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly for his contribution towards African-American History. 

The award will be received by H.E. Mr. Siméon Oyono Esono Angue, Minister of External Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, who has represented the Head of State at the United Nations this week. 

President Obiang sponsored Don Victor Mooney, the first African-American to row from Africa to New York’s Brooklyn Bridge on his fourth try. His boat called the Spirit of Malabo is slated for permanent exhibition at the country’s national museum. 

Mooney, a resident of Queens, mission was to encourage voluntary HIV testing in memory of his brother that died from AIDS and to honor his African ancestors that traverse the Middle Passage during the transatlantic slave trade. 

After rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, the Mooney family were granted nationality and gifted a home in Oyala, the administrative capital of Equatorial Guinea. 

The Head of State also made a $100,000.00 donation towards the Cultural Museum of African Art, which will be located in Brooklyn, New York. The museum will showcase the Eric Edwards African Artifacts collection. 

Mr. Eric Edwards, of Brooklyn, has amassed one of the country’s largest collections of African Art over the last 40 years. His collection, most of which is housed in a loft space in Brooklyn, consists of some 1,500 objects, including masks, statues and other artifacts such as garments, jewelry, weapons and household items used in African villages. 

This summer, H.R. 1242 Resilience Project commemorated 400th years of the first enslaved Africans arriving in the English colonies during 1619 at Brooklyn Bridge Park, where United Nations Diplomats, Academia, School Principals, Clergy, Law Enforcement, Civic, Elected Officials, Labor leaders were honored.  

The theme for this event was 400 Years: Resilience, Faith, Healing and Partnership. 

Afterwards, H.R. 1242 Resilience Project commemorated the 400 years of African-American History at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, America’s largest base in the Middle East. 

Equatorial Guinea currently sits on the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent representative. This week, H.E. Ms. Susan Stevenson, the United States Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea, presented H. E. Mr. Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, Vice-President, Charged with Defense and State Security, an aircraft for missions of surveillance and rescue for countries on the Gulf of Guinea. 

With the continued vision of President Obiang, this country has set a blueprint for peace, stability and development on the African continent. At the United Nations, Equatorial Guinea is represented by His Excellency, Mr. Anatolio Ndong Mba, Permanent Representative. 

On the net: hr1242resilience.com