Equatorial Guinea
Obiang branded "predator" by media watchdog

afrol News, 6 November - In its new list of the 39 "predators of the press freedom", the French media watchdog Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has characterised Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang as one of the world's worst. Obiang is one of twelve African state leaders on the list.

President Obiang also figured on RSF's first "predator list" of 3 May, which yesterday was revised and increased from 31 to 39 "worst cases". On the new list, Obiang "advances" from the second worst to the worst category of "predators", characterising the situation of the press in Equatorial Guinea as "very serious".

- Democracy is more formal than real in Equatorial Guinea, RSF states. "What are real are the legions of human rights violations. Teodoro Obiang Nguema, a trained soldier, is not used to being contradicted." 

Turning to the situation of the press in the country, RSF notes that, "The government press, radio and television are under his party's thumb. The few surviving independent newspapers have low circulation figures, which is enough for the regime to consider them dangerous. Their journalists are often arrested for questioning and threatened, while non-official publications are subject to economic and financial pressure aimed at reducing them to silence." 

The French media watchdog also correctly notes that "international media have been banished and few foreign media exist." In March 2000 the United Nations special rapporteur on Equatorial Guinea stressed that "free speech and freedom of movement as well as the political and economic rights of the citizens are not honoured".

The twelve African Heads of State on RSF's "predator list" include: Eduardo dos Santos (Angola), François Compaoré (Burkina Faso), Joseph Kabila (Democratic Republic of Congo), Teodoro Obiang Nguema (Equatorial Guinea), Issaias Afeworki (Eritrea), Meles Zenawi (Ethiopia), Moammar Gadhafi (Libya), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), King Mswati III (Swaziland), Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo), Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisia) and Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe). 

Sources: Based on RSF

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