Residents of the small island of Annobón have observed withering plants on their farms and large cracks in their homes. They believe the damage is a result of years of dynamite blasts associated with mining operations on the island, located about 220 miles west of Gabon in the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of Equatorial Guinea.
In July, 16 islanders wrote to the government in Malabo, the capital, raising concerns about environmental degradation and calling for an end to dynamite use. The authorities responded quickly, raiding homes and arresting the signatories and many activists supportive of their cause. Internet and mobile services were also cut off.
A relative of one detainee, speaking anonymously, explained, “The troops went from house to house to arrest our relatives. They took them to police stations on Annobón and then put them on planes without water or food to deport them to Malabo.” Three months later, only five detainees, all elderly women, have been released. The remaining individuals face charges of rebellion and the “abusive exercise of fundamental rights.”
Eleven individuals are held at Black Beach prison in Malabo, known for mistreating inmates, while 26 others, including opposition poet Francisco Ballovera Estrada, are detained at another prison in Mongomo. Reports indicate they have been denied contact with family and legal counsel.
Information flow from Annobón remains restricted, according to Naro Omo-Osagie, Africa policy and advocacy manager at the nonprofit Access Now. She noted that while some information has come from recent boat trips to Malabo, there is still no way to contact residents by phone or internet.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has ruled Equatorial Guinea since a coup in 1979, and despite the country’s substantial oil wealth, it has not improved the living standards of its citizens. The majority of the roughly 5,000 inhabitants of Annobón have faced significant human rights abuses and exploitation.
The island, historically a Spanish colony, became part of Equatorial Guinea after independence in 1968. Its strategic location in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea is of national importance. Annobón is the smallest and most isolated of Equatorial Guinea’s provinces, situated 425 miles from Malabo and closer to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, with whom it shares cultural ties.
Basic services on the island, including schooling, electricity, and clean water, are often inadequate. Though an airport was constructed in 2013, most residents rely on a ferry for transportation, which is limited.
Marginalisation has long been a source of discontent on Annobón. A cholera outbreak in the 1970s decimated a third of the population, and in the 1980s, President Obiang permitted a British company to dump toxic waste on the island.
In an environment where strong patriotism is expected, a youth uprising in August 1993 was violently crushed due to its challenge to Obiang’s regime. In July 2022, two of the original protestors declared the island’s independence under Ambô Legadu, a separatist group they co-founded, leading to increased arbitrary arrests.
Human rights lawyer Tutu Alicante stated that the July raids were part of a systematic effort to quell opposition, despite calling for secession not being a crime. He emphasized that the Annobónese have been excluded from decisions regarding their island’s development and described their feelings of abandonment as “total.”
Recently, Lagar criticized the government for its reckless mineral extraction practices, warning that they contribute to an unprecedented ecological disaster akin to extermination.
