Equatorial Guinea
Spain reaffirms its cooperation with African dictatorships

afrol News, 22 June - The Spanish government, recently attacked by the human rights group Amnesty International for its close cooperation with countries not respecting basic human rights - especially Equatorial Guinea and Morocco - confirmed its will to continue on this line without pursuing critics after being questioned in Parliament by the opposition.

Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Piqué, on Wednesday stated that the Spanish government would continue collaborating with these countries, as "one cannot question the human rights situation that prevails in these countries, but has to cooperate with them in other sectors and understand them."

Secretary of the socialist opposition party PSOE, Leire Pajín, said she and her party were worried about "the step backwards in the policy of cooperation," which, according to her, the governing conservative party PP was heading towards. Pajín made her statement at a PSOE congress. Fellow party members, responsible of the foreign policy of the PSOE, said they were "very worried" about this new trend in the government's policy, which was leading Spain "further and further away from the typical European stands."

The Spanish debate over its foreign policy towards countries systematically violating human rights had been spurred by an article of journalist Pascual Serrano in the daily "Rebelión". Serrano reminded that the Association for a Democratic Solidarity with Equatorial Guinea (ASODEGUE) was accusing the Spanish government of defending the Equatoguinean dictatorship, and in the UN Human Rights Commission said Spain was one of "the responsible", together with the United States and the African Group, for a resolution passed that took the sting out of critics against this country.

According to the investigative report of the journalist, Spain had promoted Equatorial Guinea in international forums, and also lobbied for a mild critic by the UN Human Rights Commission. His analyses were confirmed by an interview given by the Spanish Secretary of Cooperation [with developing countries], Miguel Angel Cortés, this year in the journal of the conservative newspaper ABC, while he was visiting Equatorial Guinea. He there confirmed that the Spanish government would "see to that the report about Equatorial Guinea, which soon is to be presented the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, will not be to unfavourable" (for the Equatoguinean government, that is). 

Leftist journalist Serrano explains that "the Spanish position on Equatorial Guinea was fundamentalist as the European [Union] countries had to choose their position in Geneva. These countries, especially Sweden and Holland, were telling the Equatoguinean opposition that they were pending on the position of the Spanish delegation."

Serrano had also leaned his article strongly on the document published by Spanish Amnesty International this March, entitled "Mr. Aznar [Spanish President]: Are you going to speak about torture with [Equatoguinean President] Obiang? Amnesty reminded the Spanish government of the gross human rights violations in Equatorial Guinea and asked President Aznar how Spain could deepen its cooperation with the country under these circumstances. The answer, which never came, was of course the oil boom and the growing French presence in Equatorial Guinea.

Spain sold more than 11,500 projectiles to Equatorial Guinea in year 2000, the price being around 1 million US$. Organisations supporting the International NGO Action Network on Small Arms (UNESCO, Amnesty, Greenpeace, Oxfam and Doctors without Borders) reminded the Spanish government that Equatorial Guinea does not comply with the prerequisites defined by the European Council for arms export. 

Director of the Department of International and Defence Affairs at the Spanish Presidency, Ramón Gil Casares, recently told afrol News that the Spanish government was facilitating the entry of national oil companies into the Guinean market. Oppositional groups had noted a shift in the Spanish policy last November, when Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang had offered the Spanish oil company REPSOL concessions on the rich offshore claims of his country if Spain was more cooperative. Gil claimed that "REPSOL is a private company and the issue has not been treated at any moment" during his frequent visits to Equatorial Guinea. 

Sources: afrol español

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