The Diplomat in Spain

Teodoro Obiang Nguema./ Photo: www.guineaecuatorialpress.com

Eduardo González. 06/07/2018

On Wednesday, the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, passed a decree according to which “total amnesty is granted to all those citizens condemned by the courts of justice of Equatorial Guinea for political crimes”. The objective of this measure would be facilitating the sixth Table of National Dialogue, expected to take place from July 16 to 21 in Malabo.

The decree remembers that “the Republic of Equatorial Guinea celebrates, on October 12, 2018, the fiftieth anniversary of its accession to the total independence from the colonial yoke, an event in which everyone must actively participate to show their joy and happiness”.

In this context, it continues, the decree of amnesty intends to “allow a large participation of all the political actors in the National Dialogue to take place in Malabo (…) without limitations imposed by a penalty, judicial sentence or any other coercive impediment”.

In October 2014, Obiang decreed another general amnesty to facilitate the fifth Table of Dialogue, to take place in November 2014. That was the first time that the president admitted the existence of political prisoners.

Sources close to the opposition in Madrid explained to The Diplomat that Obiang had already decreed “many amnesties” throughout the years, “always coinciding with anniversaries”, but “they are a disaster legally”. “Obiang condemns arbitrarily and pardons arbitrarily”, they pointed out.

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Sources of the opposition believe that this decree can extend a partial amnesty promised to Ildefonso Castro

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The same sources indicated that the visit made to Equatorial Guinea in May by the then secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ildefonso Castro -in which he expressed Spain’s “firm support” to democracy, human rights and political and social dialogue-, could have influenced this decree, since, in that meeting, Obiang committed to granting amnesty to the members of the banned party Ciudadanos por la Innovation (CI) imprisoned in the penitentiary of Evinyong since February.

The recent death of one of them, Juan Obama Edú, supposedly due to torture, could have encouraged Obiang to bring forward the amnesty -that he wanted to make coincide with October 12- and to extend it to “all” the political prisoners, the sources added.

Indeed, the Spanish Government yesterday «profoundly» lamented the death of Juan Obama Edú, who remained imprisoned in Evinayong «without receiving adequate medical follow-up», a fact «of special gravity» for which «a public and urgent investigation must be opened».

Likewise, he affirmed that neither Juan Obama Edú nor Santiago Ebee Ela (who died in jail in January) «will be able to benefit from the general amnesty», an «important step that can favor national reconciliation» and whose «prompt realization» should entail «The release of the rest of the political prisoners who remain in prisons in Equatorial Guinea». Finally, Spain asked that the Dialogue Table be «guided by good faith» and that it could count on the participation of «all political actors, without exceptions».

The group of the opposition CPDS warned yesterday that, if one of the objectives of this amnesty is to allow a large participation in the National Dialogue, “the Decree should have been the first step and it should have been taken with sufficient time”, taking into account that “many of those political actors live in the exile”.

Sources of the exile in Spain -which had claimed a “decree of general amnesty for all those punished by the dictatorship” as a condition to participate in the table- have told The Diplomat that this decision of the regime “does not affect at all” the rejection of Obiang’s dialogue proposal.