"Total amnesty", President Obiang creates surprise – La Libre Afrique

Si it is implemented quickly, this spectacular measure should result in the release of 21 activists of the main opposition party, Citizens for Innovation (CI), sentenced in February to more than 30 years in prison, including for "sedition".

This party, legalized in 2014 after a previous national dialogue, was dissolved four years later, at the same time as its supporters were sentenced following incidents in Aconibé (south-east)

In a decree read Wednesday night on television, President Obiang, 76, who has been running his country unchallenged since 1979, has granted "total amnesty to all citizens condemned by the tribune. to (…) for political offenses in the exercise of their activity, serving or not serving their sentence. "

This amnesty extends to any person" deprived of liberty or prevented from exercising his political right in the country " . The presidential decree, however, does not mention a possible legalization of CI.

The stated objective is, according to him, to "allow wide participation of all political actors" in a national dialogue scheduled from 16 to 21 July "between the government and legalized political parties, political actors of the interior and diaspora, civil society and religious denominations. "

Obiang pledges to guarantee" freedom "and" security "to all participants in this dialogue.

The amnesty was one of the main conditions imposed by the opposition of the interior and the diaspora to take part in this national dialogue, the sixth under the Obiang presidency. An opposition that had not yet reacted to the presidential decree on Thursday

Until then, the CI leaders claimed not to have been invited to the national dialogue, but for the first time, civil society, the Church and the international community were and will be present.

– "Bloodthirsty Satrap" –

From the sincerity and credibility of the announcement of President Obiang will depend also the answer that will bring him Severo Moto Nsa, 74, head of a government in exile refugee in Spain for nearly 40 years

He was sentenced in absentia in Malabo to more than 160 years in prison for alleged involvement in attempts to beat him Status in 1997 and 2004.

A return to Malabo from the one who, in 2004, accused Obiang of being a "bloodthirsty, cannibal and thieving satrap" devouring the testicles and brains of his opponents, would be historic. [19659003ButsaysaEuropeandiplomatfromCentralAfricathedialoguelaunchedbyPresidentObiangis"agameoffoolseveryoneknowsit""Forarealdialogueatrueopennessandatruemultipartysystemitwouldtakereallyfreeelections"

The Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE, in power) won 99 of the 100 seats in Parliament during last legislative elections in November. CI has had only one elected MP, in prison since December, without charge against him

CI regularly denounces the abuses of its imprisoned activists. On Tuesday he said that one of them died recently in prison in Evinayong (center) of "torture" at the beginning of the week.

In February, the European Union was worried about the "strong deterioration of the human rights situation "in Equatorial Guinea, a small oil country in Central Africa, also known for the escapades of its vice-president, Teodorin Nguema Obiang, son of the president.

He is accused of to have looted the state coffers and to have bought luxury cars and lavish properties in the most expensive places in the world, including Paris.

Teodorin Obiang, 49, was sentenced by the French justice in October 2017 to three years in prison suspended and 30 million euros fine, also suspended, in this case called "ill-gotten goods."

It seems to take more and more weight in his country at the point of appear be the probable successor of his father: he recently signed a note stating that any authorization for travel abroad officials should go through his services.

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