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The Chadian government continues to hold the lead of an Equatorial Guinean opposition party after its arrest Thursday south of N'Djamena, the Chadian capital, according to the Spanish Foreign Ministry.
"The Spanish government is deeply concerned by this detention and calls on the governments of Chad and Equatorial Guinea to treat the case of Andrés Esono with the utmost respect for its fundamental rights," according to a statement from the Madrid authorities.
Andrés Esono, general secretary of the Equatorial Guinea political party Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), has been accused by the government of Equatorial Guinea of trying to organize a coup by Chadian government by recruiting fighters and buying weapons and ammunition.
According to the Spanish Foreign Ministry, Esono had been invited to speak at a conference held in Chad by UNDR, Chad 's main opposition party.
The CPDS party of Esono holds no seat at the Equatorial Guinean badembly, but it is a usual target of the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang. He was falsely accused of attempting to spread the Ebola virus throughout the country in 2015.
"The government of Equatorial Guinea is afraid of everything it does not control," said Tutu Alicante, executive director of EG Justice, an American-based human rights group that is based in Ecuador and Guinean.
Human Rights Watch explained how any opposition or criticism of the Obiang government is being subjected to torture, intimidation, detention and beatings.
"They called Human Rights Watch all sorts of names, and they see me as an enemy of the state and a traitor," Alicante told RFI. The government considers opposition members and human rights defenders to be "against them," according to the human rights activist.
International pressure is the key to his release
Alicante believes that African countries, such as Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Botswana can help the case of Esono.
"Unfortunately, the region of Central Africa is overflowing with other dictators – Idriss Deby is a dictator, Denis Sbadou-Nguesso, Paul Biya, Ali Bongo, they are all dictators," said Alicante, referring to leaders in Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon. and Gabon.
Countries outside the African continent could also put pressure on Chad to free him, using their bilateral relations and economic influence to obtain Esono's release, said Alicante.
"The Chadian government, like many other governments, listens to and is influenced by the pressures of foreign countries, countries like France and countries like the United States and the European Union," he said. he added.
Alicante gave the example of Yahya Jammeh, the former dictator of The Gambia, who lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea. Jammeh freely left The Gambia after losing the elections at the end of 2016, when he was accused of numerous enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and murder.
Jammeh was free to go where he wanted "because no African country was against that. And no country in the European Union nor the United States has said anything, "said Alicante.
"These are things that should not happen," added Alicante, making a comparison with Jammeh's case and the situation of Esono's detention in Chad.
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