<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Congress has urged the Government to support the democratic opposition in Equatorial Guinea and to promote “the condemnation” of the Teodoro Obiang Nguema regime “in the different international forums in which Spain participates”.</strong></h4> On October 29, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lower House approved a non-legislative proposal presented by the PP to restore a State policy in relation to Equatorial Guinea. The approved text (with modifications), published this Wednesday by the Official Gazette of Congress, urges the Government to “support the democratic opposition in Equatorial Guinea, Non-Governmental Organizations, intellectuals and personalities of civil society, making their existence visible and establishing collaboration programs, through the AECID, that promote democracy, freedoms and human rights.” It also requests that the processing of requests for political asylum of Equatorial Guinean citizens who claim to be persecuted due to their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or their political opinions be expedited, and to provide institutional and material support to Equatorial Guinean organizations based in Spain. The motion also calls on the Government to “promote condemnation of the Equatorial Guinea regime in the various international forums in which Spain participates” and to “include a chapter within the Foreign Action Strategy with the basic lines that a State policy with regard to Equatorial Guinea should have”. The text also calls for the implementation of “sanctions within the EU for companies and people who collaborate in the corruption of the regime” and for the creation of “a list of real estate in the European Union owned by members of the Government of Equatorial Guinea and relatives of Teodoro Obiang”. The motion also calls on the Executive to report on the circumstances of the death in a prison in Equatorial Guinea of the Spanish citizen Julio Obama and to contact the authorities of that country to request the delivery of the remains to the relatives and to support all judicial initiatives so that those responsible for his death are brought to trial. The Spanish-Guinean Julio Obama Mefuman, 51 years old and member of the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea III Republic (MLGE III R), was kidnapped in South Sudan in November 2020 by the Equatorial Guinean government and subsequently imprisoned. According to his party, the opposition leader died in January 2023 due to the torture to which he had been subjected. The Equatorial Guinean government assured that he had died “in a hospital in Mongomo due to an illness he had been suffering from” and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Equatorial Guinean ambassador in Spain to ask for explanations.
