Post ‘ coup’ plot, UN to back Eq. Guinea

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The Equatorial Guinea government has said its troops shot dead one ‘ mercenary’ and ‘ used gunfire to disperse’ others in the forests along the border with Cameroon

Malabo ( Equatorial Guinea), Jan. 9: A United Nations special envoy has assured oil- rich Equatorial Guinea it will be supported in its “stabilisation efforts” following a “coup attempt” against President Teodoro Obiang, Africa’s longestserving leader.

Francois Lounceny Fall, a former prime minister of Guinea, arrived in Equatorial Guinea over the weekend to meet Obiang and to “gather more information” on the putsch that Malabo said was mounted by foreign mercenaries on December 24.

“We are leaving here comforted by the assurances we have received from the President of the Republic, and I can say that the United Nations will continue to support Equatorial Guinea in its stabilisation efforts,” Fall said on Monday in a speech broadcast on state television at the end of his visit.

“The UN has made a clear statement against the use of force against states. The unconstitutional seizure of power is condemned by both the African Union and the Nations,” added Fall, the head of the UN’s central African office.

The Equatorial Guinea government has said its troops shot dead one “mercenary” and “used gunfire to disperse” others in the forests along the border with Cameroon, without specifying how many fighters were involved or how long the clashes lasted.

Equatorial Guinea’s main opposition party, Citizens for Innovation ( CI), has said dozens of its activists were arrested in recent weeks following the alleged coup attempt.

According to the party, which also met with Fall, national security forces “besieged” its headquarters for 10 days, only abandoning their posts on Monday morning.