Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, yesterday expressed her condolences for the dead victims of the explosions that took place this past Sunday in an army barracks in Bata, the economic capital of Equatorial Guinea, and announced that Spain will proceed to “immediately send” a shipment of humanitarian aid to the African country. The aid will leave Tuesday at noon, ministry sources told The Diplomat.
Some twenty people died as a result of a chain of explosions in a military barracks in Bata. The President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has attributed these explosions to uncontrolled burning near the barracks and “negligent handling of dynamite at the base”.
“Following the devastating explosions in Bata yesterday, I have conveyed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Equatorial Guinea, Simeon Oyono Esono, our condolences for the victims and those affected. Spain will immediately send a shipment of humanitarian aid“, Gonzalez Laya wrote on Twitter. Sources close to the interior opposition in Equatorial Guinea specified that the aid would arrive in Bata “in the next few hours”. Foreign Ministry sources told The Diplomat last night that the Ministry was waiting for the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) to finalize the shipment of the aid. Foreign Ministry sources told The Diplomat last night that the humanitarian aid will leave around noon on Tuesday, pending finalization of the details by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
Immediately after the tragedy, the Spanish Embassy in Malabo published several messages on Twitter in which it conveyed, “in these sad moments, its heartfelt condolences to the authorities of Equatorial Guinea and to the families of the deceased, as well as its solidarity and wishes for a speedy recovery to those injured in the explosions”, and recommended “Spanish nationals to remain at home”.
In an official communiqué, President Obiang made “an appeal to the international community and national benefactors to support Equatorial Guinea in these difficult moments that coincide with the economic crisis derived from the fall of oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic”.
For its part, the legal opposition formation Convergencia para la Democracia Social de Guinea Ecuatorial (CPDS) subscribed “the request for humanitarian aid made by the Government to the international community” and asked “particularly Spain, France and the United States to send immediate aid to Equatorial Guinea, consisting of rescue teams to search for bodies under rubble, health personnel and medicines”. Likewise, the Progress Party, an opposition party founded by Severo Moto and presided from exile in Spain by Armengol Engonga Ondo, has denounced that the events of Bata “evidence a dramatic shortage of public resources to attend to those affected” and “show to the whole world (…) the dramatic situation of Equatorial Guinea”, where “always, the most disadvantaged are the ones abandoned by the authorities”.
