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afrol News, 24 January - The Equatoguinean opposition denounces the government of deploying forbidden anti-personnel mines on the Island of Bioko. The Bubi people of the island is strongly opposed to the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema from mainland Río Muni. The exiled opposition Movement for the Autonomy of the Island of Bioko (MAIB) this week issued a statement from Madrid (Spain), accusing the government of President Obiang to have ordered "the deployment of anti-personnel mines" in the forests of Bioko. The statement, originally written on Monday, maintains "the Armed Forces of Equatorial Guinea are making troop movement in several zones of the Island of Bioko." According to MAIB, last 3 December, "the regime of general and president Teodoro Obiang Nguema mobilised the army, transporting 60 soldiers on three truck to the village Rebola, without giving any explications to the local authorities." - The data we have access to confirm that there are anti-personnel mines in the forests of Rebola, Baney, the Moka Valley and the coastal zone of Malabo [the national capital], more exactly from kilometre five east of Malabo, MAIB claims to know. "In addition to the anti-personnel mines, whose numbers are unknown, there have also been deployed explosives working on remote control all along the road to Rebola and Baney, towards kilometre 20, east of Malabo," the MAIB statement reads. - We know for sure that the explosives were unloaded in the port of Malabo the day before, by soldiers on night shift, MAIB claims. The opposition group further claims to know that this material was moved to the military base in the so-called "Presidential Zone" on 3 August. The MAIB considers the army's alleged deployment of anti-personnel mines and explosives to be "a sign by the government to make the defenceless Bubi population know that the country finds itself in an instable and unpredictable situation. The mobilisation is nothing else than unmistakable sign that the dictator will be protected from whatever internal or external threat," the text adds. Equatorial Guinea is one of the 122 countries that have ratified the international treaty banning antipersonnel mines (1997 Mine Ban Treaty). The Mine Ban Treaty outlaws any possession or use of antipersonnel mines. The Equatoguinean government ratified the treaty on 16 September 1998. The origin of the alleged explosive material remains unclear. Several organisations on April 2001 however were alerted by the big quantities of ammunition sold to Equatorial Guinea by its formal colonial power, Spain up to that time. According to reports from the non-governmental organisations, in year 2000, Spain sold more than 11,5000 projectiles to Equatorial Guinea, a number that had been observed in the official statistics of the Spanish customs service. Sources: MAIB, ICL and afrol archives
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