Reuters, UK
April 13 2005

Prisoners risk starving in Eq. Guinea jail, says Amnesty

Wed April 13, 2005 2:58 PM GMT+02:00
By Estelle Shirbon

MADRID (Reuters) – At least 70 prisoners risk starving to death in an
Equatorial Guinea prison, where rations have been cut from a daily
cup of rice to almost nothing, Amnesty International said on
Thursday.

The human rights group said those most at risk included six Armenians
and five South Africans convicted last year, in a trial Amnesty
described as “grossly unfair”, of plotting a coup in the tiny,
oil-rich West African country.

“Unless immediate action is taken, many of those detained at Black
Beach prison will die,” said Kolawole Olaniyan, director of Amnesty’s
Africa Programme, in a statement.

Amnesty said prison conditions had worsened drastically in the past
six weeks, with authorities providing food only sporadically and
preventing any visits by relatives, lawyers or consular officials.

Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, said the allegations were
untrue and accused Amnesty of seeking to tarnish its image.

“Prisoners in Equatorial Guinea are not going hungry. We have assured
their basic rights,” Second Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Mangue
Obama Nfube, whose portfolio includes human rights, told Reuters by
telephone.

Amnesty said prisoners depended for survival on food handed to guards
by their families, meaning that detainees with no relatives living
nearby faced a greater risk of starvation.

As well as the foreigners, this puts Equatorial Guinean prisoners
from the country’s mainland in danger as Black Beach is in Malabo,
the capital, which is located on a volcanic island in the Gulf of
Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea has been ruled since 1979 by President Teodoro
Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who seized power in a coup. It is the
third-biggest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and
Angola.

Many foreign critics say Obiang and his allies have pocketed much of
the country’s recently acquired oil wealth, and human rights groups
say abuses are rife, charges Obiang dismisses.

Equatorial Guinea briefly came under the international spotlight last
year when it put on trial 19 suspected mercenaries accused of
plotting to topple Obiang.

Amnesty said the Armenians and South Africans jailed at Black Beach
for their part in the plot had their wrists and ankles chained
together at all times, and all the prisoners were confined to their
cells 24 hours a day.

The rights group also said four Nigerians have been held in Black
Beach for several months without charge or trial and without the
Nigerian embassy being notified.