The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea to Spain to ask for explanations for the death in prison of the Spanish citizen Julio Obama Mefuman, opponent to the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and to request a pardon for the other imprisoned Spanish citizen, Feliciano Efa, according to sources of the Ministry informed to The Diplomat.
In the meeting, held this Monday, the Ministry was represented by the State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, Ángeles Moreno Bau, while the Embassy was represented by the number two, Counselor Domingo Edu Andeme, due to the fact that the Ambassador, Miguel Edjang Angue, is not in Spain.
On the other hand, according to the same sources, the Spanish Embassy in Malabo has also asked the Guinean Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clarify the circumstances of Obama’s death, “while providing consular assistance to the family of the deceased”.
Julio Obama Mefuman, 51, a member of the Equatorial Guinea Liberation Movement III Republic (MLGE III R), was kidnapped in South Sudan in November 2020 by the Equatoguinean government and subsequently imprisoned. According to his party, the opposition leader died as a result of the torture to which he was subjected and “as a consequence of the weakness and lack of involvement of Spanish institutions in the fight against Obiang’s tyranny” and “product of a cruel revenge that attacks all of Spain”, for which he “strongly” urged the Spanish Government to “immediately” break diplomatic relations with Equatorial Guinea and the judicial authorities of his country to proceed “with all the rigor of the criminal law against the perpetrators”.
Malabo assures that he died “of illness”
The sources did not specify the content of the conversation between Moreno Bau and the Equatoguinean representative. In any case, the Foreign Minister of Equatorial Guinea, Simeon Oyono Esono, assured yesterday that Julio Obama Mefuman, “an Equatoguinean who participated in the thwarted coup attempt of December 27, 2017 and who received a fair trial, has died in a hospital in Mongomo because of an illness he had been suffering from.” “Equatorial Guinea wants to come forward to deny the information published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, because it is unfounded,” he added through his Twitter account.
The news of his death has been known a few days after the Central Court of Instruction number 5 of the National Court opened an investigation against the security leadership of Equatorial Guinea for an alleged crime of kidnapping for terrorist purposes and torture of Obama and another Spanish citizen, Feliciano Efa. Specifically, the judicial investigation affects the Secretary of State of the Presidency and head of the country’s secret service abroad (and son of the President), Carmelo Ovono Obiang; the Minister of State, Nicolas Obama, and the Director General of Presidential Security, Isaac Ngema.
The first police information indicates that the three were on board the presidential plane which transported Feliciano Efa and Julio Obama from South Sudan to Malabo and that they were present and participated in the torture to which the two Spanish citizens were subjected and the also opponents Martin Obiang Ondo Mbasogo and Bienvenido Ndong Ondo Eyang, two Equatoguinean citizens with more than fifteen years of legal residence in Madrid.
All four belong to the MLGE3R and were sentenced in March 2020 by a military court to prison terms ranging from 60 to 90 years for alleged coup d’état, after a trial marred by “serious procedural irregularities,” according to the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights. Both judges and prosecutors were appointed by President Obiang by executive decree. Specifically, the late Julio Obama Mefuman, a former corporal in the Spanish Army, was sentenced to 60 years and Feliciano Efa Mangue, a 40-year-old soldier in the Spanish Army, was sentenced to 90 years.
Last week, the public channel Television of Equatorial Guinea (TVGE) assured, citing “official sources”, that the security forces disarticulated, in December 2017, “an attempted coup d’état financed by Western powers whose purpose was to annihilate the President of the Republic and his family, thus overthrowing the constitutional regime of the country”. According to the state media, which cited as its source the General Directorate of the Presidential Press, it was “clearly demonstrated the direct involvement of the Kingdom of Spain” in this attempt.
As a consequence of the investigation by the Audiencia Nacional, the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mangue, accused Spain of “interference, humiliation and lack of respect for sovereignty”. Both Ovono Obiang and Vice President Obiang Nguema Mangue himself, popularly known as Teodorín, are children of President Obiang, who is estimated to have around thirty children with at least five different women.
