Equatorial Guinea
Government reaching goal of eliminating opposition

afrol.com, 22 September - In its strategy to eliminate the oppositional forces of Equatorial Guinea, the government of dictator Teodoro Obiang already has achieved to get rid of political formations such as the CLD, the UDENA and PL. At this moment, there are only two oppositional parties left: the Unión Popular (UP) and the Convergencia para la Democracia Social. Right now, the government is working on making the UP just another of its satellite "opposition" parties.

Opposition parties became legal in Equatorial Guinea in 1992, but if the trends continue, the multi-party system does not have a long life expectancy. The destruction of the CLD, UDENA anf the PL were accompanied by the illegal dissolution of the Progress Party (Partido del Progeso). Thus, the democratic opposition of the country was reduced to only to political parties, the Popular Union (Unión Popular) and the Unification for Social Democracy (Convergencia para la Democracia Social). Most of the other parties have turned into marionettes of the government party.

The situation of the Popular Union, however, is increasingly dramatic. Its Secretary-General has stated that, "on continuing its devastating actions, the government has paid off a group of militants loyal to the government party to enter the Popular Union and undermine it, with the aim of changing its leadership. In this way, the party can be turned into a political satellite of the government, such as has happened with so many others."

This group of militants, which is on the government's payroll, call themselves the "National Political Commission". In the end of August, they celebrated the financial and military support obtained from the government in a variety of "convention" in Bata, the new capital of Equatorial Guinea. The outspoken aim was to get rid of the Popular Union, in accordance with its constituting declaration of January 2000. 

"Further," says the Secretary-General of the Popular Union, "this strategy is a reprisal for the refusal of this party to take the Parliamentary seats that were given as a present to it." He refers to the fraudulent elections, where local and international observers concluded that the opposition might have gained majority if they had been free and fair. On the contrary, the outcome was that the government dictated the electoral result "giving" some symbolic seats to the opposition.

The Popular Union, fearing its rapid undermining, some weeks ago published a list of declarations, with the aim of reaching the media and the international public. We recite them in their entirety:

The Popular Union, with the aims of continuing its firm struggle to establish a true democracy in this country, declares:

1.- That it is null and void, the pseudo-convention arranged by a dissident group of the Unión Popular in the town of Bata, with the economic and military aid of the government, for not respecting the general statutes of the part and the official laws concerning political parties in Equatorial Guinea.

2.- That the international community must reject the conclusions reached by this pseudo-convention, as the mentioned group not only has the motive to destroy the Unión Popular, but also to slow down the started process of democratisation, and implant the old regime of a one-party-state in our country - something unacceptable in our times.

3.- That, until the party formally arranges its convention, the counting norms are stay valid and the present leadership of this political formation remains, headed by its historical leader, Andrés Moisés Mbá Adá. 

Source: Unión Popular

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