[SFDXA] Equatorial Guinea’s repression of island protesters includes internet outage — for over a year and counting

[Bill]

/from Tony N2MFT:/


  Equatorial Guinea’s repression of island protesters includes internet
  outage — for over a year and counting

Sept. 14, 2025 11:04 AM PT
LAGOS, Nigeria
(Associated Press)

When residents of Equatorial Guinea’s Annobón island wrote to the 
government in Malabo in July of last year complaining about the dynamite 
explosions by a Moroccan construction company, they didn’t expect the 
swift end to their internet access.

Dozens of the signatories and residents were imprisoned for nearly a 
year, while internet access to the small island has been cut off since 
then, according to residents and rights groups.

Local residents interviewed by the Associated Press left the island in 
the past months, citing fear for their lives and the difficulty of life 
without the internet.

Banking services have shut down, hospital services for emergencies have 
been brought to a halt, and residents say they rack up phone bills they 
can’t afford because cellphone calls are the only way to communicate.

When governments shut down the internet, they often instruct telecom 
providers to cut connections to designated locations or access to 
designated websites, although it’s unclear exactly how the shutdown 
works on Annobón.

The internet shutdown remains in effect, residents and activists 
confirmed, at a moment when the Trump administration has considered 
loosening sanctions on the country’s vice president over corruption.

The Moroccan company Somagec, which activists allege is linked to 
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, confirmed the outage but denied 
having a hand in it. The AP could not confirm a link.

“The current situation is extremely serious and worrying,” one of the 
signatories who spent 11 months in prison said, speaking anonymously for 
fear of being targeted by the government.


    Repression ramps up

In addition to the internet shutdown, “phone calls are heavily 
monitored, and speaking freely can pose a risk,” said Macus Menejolea 
Taxijad, a resident who recently began living in exile.

It is only the latest repressive measure that the country has deployed 
to crush criticism, including mass surveillance, according to a 2024 
Amnesty International report.

Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, is run by Africa’s 
longest-serving ruler. Obiang, at 83, has served as president for more 
than half his life — since 1979. His son serves as the vice president 
and is accused of spending state funds on a lavish lifestyle. He was 
convicted of money laundering and embezzlement in France and sanctioned 
by the U.K.

On Friday, the United Nations’ top court declined Equatorial Guinea’s 
request for France to return a Paris-based mansion confiscated as part 
of a corruption probe, ruling that the African nation has not shown it 
has a “plausible right to the return of the building.”

Despite the country’s oil and gas wealth, at least 57% of its nearly 2 
million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank Officials, 
their families and their inner circle, meanwhile, live a life of luxury.

The Equatorial Guinea government did not respond to the AP’s inquiry 
about the island, its condition and internet access.


    Annobón has a troubled history

Located in the Atlantic Ocean about 315 miles from mainland Equatorial 
Guinea’s coast, Annobón is one of the country’s poorest islands and 
often in conflict with the central government. With a population of 
around 5,000 people, the island has been seeking independence for years 
as it accuses the government of disregarding its residents.

The internet shutdown is the latest in a long history of Malabo’s 
repressive responses to the island’s political and economic demands, 
activists say, citing regular arrests and the absence of adequate social 
amenities such as schools and hospitals.

“Their marginalization is not only from a political perspective, but 
from a cultural, societal and economic perspective,” said Mercè Monje 
Cano, secretary-general of the global advocacy group the Unrepresented 
Peoples and Nations Organization.

An airport that opened on Annobón in 2013, which was built by Somagec, 
promised to connect the island to the rest of the country. But not much 
has improved, locals and activists say. The internet shutdown has 
instead worsened living conditions there, collapsing key infrastructure, 
including healthcare and banking services.


    Crackdown on a protest

In 2007, Equatorial Guinea entered into a business deal with Somagec, a 
Moroccan construction company that develops ports and electricity 
transmission systems across West and Central Africa.

Annobón’s geological formation and volcanic past make the island rich in 
rocks and expands Malabo’s influence in the Gulf of Guinea, which is 
abundantly rich in oil. Somagec has also built a port and, according to 
activists, explored mineral extraction on Annobón since it began 
operations on the island.

Residents and activists said the company’s dynamite explosions in open 
quarries and construction activities have been polluting their farmlands 
and water supply. The company’s work on the island continues.

Residents hoped to pressure authorities to improve the situation with 
their complaint in July 2024. Instead, Obiang deployed a repressive 
tactic now common in Africa — cutting off access to the internet to 
clamp down on protest and criticism.

This was different from past cases when Obiang restricted the internet 
during an election.

“This is the first time the government cut off the internet because a 
community has a complaint,” said Tutu Alicante, an Annobón-born activist 
who runs the EG Justice human rights organization

The power of the internet to enable people to challenge their leaders 
threatens authorities, according to Felicia Anthonio of Access Now, an 
internet rights advocacy group. “So, the first thing they do during a 
protest is to go after the internet,” Anthonio said.

Somagec’s chief executive, Roger Sahyoun, denied having a hand in the 
shutdown and said the company itself has been forced to rely on a 
private satellite. He defended the dynamite blasting as crucial for its 
construction projects, saying all necessary assessments had been done.

“After having undertaken geotechnical and environmental impact studies, 
the current site where the quarry was opened was confirmed as the best 
place to meet all the criteria,” Sahyoun said in an email message.

The residents, meanwhile, continue to suffer the internet shutdown, 
unable to use even the private satellite deployed by the company.

“Annobón is very remote and far from the capital and the [rest of] 
continent,” said Alicante, the activist from the island. “So you’re 
leaving people there without access to the rest of the continent ... and 
incommunicado.”


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