New Arrests In Equatorial Guinea A Year After Opposition Crackdown

Four opposition activists in Equatorial Guinea have been arrested, their parties said on Tuesday, on the anniversary of a crackdown by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The biggest opposition group, the outlawed Citizens for Innovation (CI) party, said three of its members were detained by security forces on Tuesday.

Soldiers had come to a home to confiscate a shotgun "and as they were leaving, spotted a photo of party leader Gabriel Nse Obiang on the wall," the CI said.

The troops ripped up the picture and arrested the trio, it said.

Separately, the second biggest opposition party, the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), said one of its members was detained on Monday for criticising Obiang, who has ruled the oil-rich West African state for 39 years.

"Joaquin Elo Ayeto was arrested at his home in Malabo's El Paraiso district," the CPDS said in a statement.

"The arrest, for which there was no warrant, was carried out by seven armed members of the presidential security force," it said.

According to the CPDS, Ayeto was accused of saying he hoped Obiang "would not return" to the capital from a tour of newly created provincial districts.

The activist is being held in the main police station in Malabo, a facility widely known as Guantanamo, the party said.

CI was banned by the authorities on February 26 2018.

Twenty-one CI members, including the opposition party's sole member of parliament, were subsequently sentenced to 30 years' jail for "sedition, public disorder, attacks on authority and serious bodily harm."

The crackdown followed scuffles between CI followers and the security forces in the runup to legislative elections in November 2017.

Around 100 party members were rounded up, CI said. Thirty-three were released in October 2018 under a presidential pardon.

The CI says three of its members died in prison, an accusation rejected by the authorities.

In December 2017, the government reported thwarting a coup allegedly orchestrated by foreign exiles.

The authorities have been confiscating hunting guns in what they say is an added security measure. A trial of alleged plotters is scheduled to take place in March.

Obiang, 76, is Africa's longest-serving leader.

He has faced a string of coup attempts since seizing power in the small former Spanish colony in August 3 1979, ousting his uncle.

Critics accuse him of brutal repression of opponents as well as election fraud and corruption.

The country is one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producers, but most of its 1.2 million population lives in poverty.

Obiang's son, Teodorin Obiang Nguema, 50, is vice president.

Last October, he was promoted from colonel directly to division general, without passing through the normal intermediary rank of brigade general.

The following month, he presided over a cabinet meeting for the first time.