Police in Equatorial Guinea police yesterday raided the headquarters of the main opposition party in the capital, a party official told AFP. “About 20 police dressed in black burst into our offices demanding that we turn over our radio transmitter,” said Juan Nzo, deputy secretary general of the Convergence for Social Democracy Party (CPDS).
According to the official, police did not find the equipment and left instead with election campaign materials. No one was detained in the raid, he said.
Party leaders say they have asked the government for permission to relaunch a small radio station via the transmitter, which was bought in August and had started test broadcasting this week. CPDS, which has repeatedly denounced the government for electoral fraud since multi-party politics began in 1991, obtained only one National Assembly seat in elections in May.
President Obiang Nguema, who has been in power since a 1979 coup, has been frequently accused of violating human rights. Equatorial Guinea ranks as sub-Saharan Africa’s third biggest crude oil producer though most of the population lives in dire poverty.
(Source: AFP)
