Nairobi, Aug. 8, 2024 (Lusa) - Equatorial Guinea's Ministry of Transport, Post and Telecommunications has asked Starlink, owned by South African tycoon Elon Musk, to "immediately suspend" its satellite Internet service in the country.
In a statement dated Tuesday and published in Wednesday's edition of the newspaper Diario Rombe, the ministry states that "Starlink has been asked to immediately suspend access to the satellite Internet service of all Starlink kits located" over the country.
The request comes after days of limited access to social networks on the island of Annobón, where at least 33 people were detained without charge after peaceful protests in mid-July against dynamite explosions carried out by Moroccan infrastructure company SOMAGEC, a legal source told EFE.
"They are in inhumane situations, they were detained with only the clothes on their bodies. Their relatives bring them water, food and clothes. They are being held in overcrowded and smelly cells. Some of them have reported being tortured," the source told EFE by telephone, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The events began on July 9, when several inhabitants of the island decided to sign a letter addressed to the country's President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, asking him to put an end to the explosions.
The citizens deplored "the detonations carried out for the construction of the port and airport, carried out under the pretext of extractive activities" which "transformed fertile and productive areas into sterile areas unsuitable for agriculture", as well as causing the risk of their homes collapsing.
Faced with the lack of response to their demands, several dozen inhabitants decided to demonstrate peacefully during the week of July 15 in Annobón's capital, San Antonio de Palé.
Since then, at least 33 people have been detained on the island, as well as in a neighborhood of Malabo - the country's capital located on another island - inhabited by Annobonese, and in Bata, the capital of the mainland region of Equatorial Guinea.
Among those arrested is writer Francisco Ballovera Estrada, a member of the National Executive Committee of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), the only authorized opposition party in the country.
All the detainees are currently confined in Malabo, in two barracks of the national gendarmerie, and at least three of them have had to be hospitalized due to their deteriorating health, according to the same source.
Telecommunications cuts since July 20 make it difficult to know the current situation in Annobón.
On the government side, the vice-president and son of the head of state, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, known as Teodorin, accused the detainees of "crimes of rebellion and sedition" and guaranteed that "they will answer to the law for their actions".
Since its independence from Spain in 1968, Equatorial Guinea has been considered by human rights organizations to be one of the most corrupt and repressive countries in the world.
Teodoro Obiang, 82, has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1979, when he overthrew his uncle Francisco Macías in a coup d'état, and is the longest-serving president in the world.
Since 2014, Equatorial Guinea has been a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).
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