Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Malabo (Agenzia Fides) – The government of Equatorial Guinea has claimed that there was an attempt to attack the Presidential Palace in the capital of Malabo, which they say was carried out by Nigerian rebels of MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta). The MEND has denied the accusations, blaming the government in Malabo for being “paranoid.” The Nigerian rebel group is infamous for its kidnapping of businessmen, both local and foreign, employed in the companies in charge of oil rigging in the Niger Delta. MEND members are also suspected of being responsible for the attacks on the disputed Bakassi Peninsula (rich in oil reserves), which was for years part of Nigeria and has now been returned to Cameroon, after an international agreement (see Fides 25/7/2008).
According to local authorities, the guerrillas went from Nigeria in motorboats on the evening of February 17, docking on the island of Bioko, home to the capital city of Malabo, and tried to attack the Presidential Palace, entering into combat with local troops for several house, after which the would-be assailants were held off and tried to escape. At least one person died in the fighting and others drowned when their boat was sunk by local marine authorities. In the capital, calm seems to have returned although road blocks and control points, as well as searches and inquisitions from security guards, have remained. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was not on the island of Bioko, but on the continental part of the country, at 100 km to the south.
Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, is the third producer of petroleum of Saharan Africa and has been governed since 1979 by President Obiang, who rose to power after having overthrown his uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema (later executed). There have been various attempted coups in the recent past, using foreign mercenaries. The most serious one occurred in 2004, when a group of Engish and South African mercenaries were headed off by local authorities and those from Zimbabwe (where the leaders of the coups were trying to acquire a portion of the arms). According to press sources, the mercenaries were only in cohorts with members of the MEND.
The trace of the South African mercenaries is also present in the two failed coups attempts, one in 2003 and one this year, which were disarmed in Sao Tome and Principe, the islands in the Gulf of Guinea (this is another oil source not yet run dry), which immediately placed its forces on alert following the conflict in Malabo. In early February, the islands authorities reported the arrest of 32 people, accused of planning a coups. Many of these had served in the anti-guerrilla battalion “Buffalo,” employed by the apartheid regime in Namibia.
Yesterday, February 17, Sao Tome and Principe activated a highly-sensitive radar, installed by the United States, to control the entire Gulf of Guinea. The new command for Africa in the Pentagon (AFRICOM) considers this to be a strategic area, which is destined to provide one-fourth of all American oil imports by 2015. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 18/2/2009)
