Equatorial Guinea
Ex-Minister dies of torture in Equatorial Guinea

afrol News, 13 April - Guillermo Nguema Elá, the former Equatoguinean Minister of Economy and Finance and the founder of the opposition party Democratic Republican Force (FDR) last week died of the injuries brought upon him during torture in a state prison. Several other opposition politicians currently are detained and exposed to torture in a wave of arrests in Equatorial Guinea.

On Thursday, during a press conference in Madrid, capital of the ex-colonial power, the exiled nephew of Nguema Elá made testimony of his uncle's death in Equatorial Guinea. 

The leading opposition figure in the small, central African dictatorship had been "murdered", according to the information his nephew got from Equatoguinean officials, after he had been released from custody. Other reports from the country however sustain that Nguema Elá had been brutally tortured while in prison and several Equatoguinean citizens earlier have died from the injuries they have obtained from torture and harsh prison conditions. 

According to the Spanish news agency EFE, it was also expressed fear that other prominent opposition politicians and military officials currently detained and reportedly tortured - in particular Saturnino Obama Esono, Lorenzo Ondó Elá, Santos Mba Ndong and Segismundo Obama Esono - may await the same fate. They have all been accused of plotting a military coup together with the opposition, producing a wave of arrests. Over 100 opposition members and military personnel have been arrested. 

The exiled Equatoguinean opposition, mainly operating from Madrid, on Thursday also denounced the "assassination of three opposition members" who where among the recently detained Equatoguineans. In addition to Nguema Elá, the exiled opposition is convinced that also Felipe Ondó Obiang and Emilio Ndong Biyogo have been killed by the government "after sustaining torture since the end of March," two weeks after the wave of "arbitrary detentions" were initiated. This was explained by Daniel M. Oyono, President of the exiled movement Equatoguinean National Resistance (RENAGE) at a Madrid press conference. 

Both the opposition (exiled and within Equatorial Guinea) and international human rights groups such as Amnesty International have repeatedly cried out at the large number of detentions in the country during the last month. The wave of arrests started on 14 March and are now assessed to outnumber 100 detained, many of those originating from Mongomo in the Rio Muni mainland, the area from which most of the governing elite around President Teodoro Obiang Nguema is recruited. 

Amnesty International, alarmed by reports of torture in Equatorial Guinea has called the authorities of Equatorial Guinea to "release immediately" several of the detained. " Eyewitnesses have seen some of these detainees in prison with visible marks of torture, but they have remained incommunicado for five days and no one knows their whereabouts," the group said in a recent statement.

The Equatoguinean President, for his part, and how it has become habitual, has not addressed the situation publicly and neither has any member of his government. The Spanish government has so far also declined to comment on the matter - although it has been urged to - given the fact that President Obiang and an Equatoguinean government delegation has been meeting with the Spanish Presidency while attending a Summit on Aging in the Spanish capital. 

The exiled Equatoguinean opposition strongly has criticised the Spanish government of its "ambiguous position" towards its ex-colony and urged the Spanish government head, José María Aznar, to receive the Equatoguinean opposition with the same honours as it receives the Equatoguinean Head of State.  

Sources: Based on RENAGE, EFE and afrol archives

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