Scoop was written with Abyssinia in mind. The dogs of war includes a capital city of Clarence, which just happens to have been the former name of EG's capital. And it begins with a massive discovery of mineral wealth.
I stand corrected -- you are, of course, quite right.
The details in the story about Obiang and his family and the strange goings on in the upper echelons of eq's government are still strikingly similar to some of the descriptions of the jackson family in Waugh's novels.
COPPER