Equatorial Guinea denounces France, Spain, US for 'interference'

Equatorial Guinea on Thursday accused the French, Spanish and US ambassadors of interfering in its affairs by allegedly preventing investigators from arresting a high-profile suspect in the 2017 coup bid. The authorities are upset that the three ambassadors visited the home of former supreme court judge Juan Carlos Ondo Angue on Monday evening, as gendarmes went to arrest him.

The country's chief prosecutor, Anatolio Nsang Nguem, told state broadcaster RTVGE that he was wanted in connection with their investigation into the December 2017 attempted coup. "Their presence prevented the work of the gendarmes," he said, without elaborating. Obstructing justice, he said, carried a possible prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea.

All three diplomats had gone beyond their official duties by "interfering with a judicial process" against Equatorial Guineans, said a foreign ministry statement Wednesday. In comments to the diplomatic corps Foreign Minister Simeon Oyono Esono Angue denounced the three ambassadors for interfering in the internal affairs of the country, said the statement.

The minister stressed that all accredited ambassadors should respect the laws of the country, the statement added. Ondo Angue was fired from his position in August 2018 over his suspected links to the coup bid against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The authorities have arrested a string of suspects in the investigation recently. In the spring of 2019, more than 130 people were jailed for between three and 96 years over the affair. Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea has been ruled with an iron fist for 40 years by Nguema.

Africa's only Spanish-speaking nation, it is the continent's third-biggest oil producer but more than half of its population lives below the poverty line.

On Wednesday, Equatorial Guinea attacked the French judiciary for "meddling" in its affairs after a Paris appeal court confirmed a conviction of Nguema's son, Teodorin Obiang, for embezzling the country's riches. It handed down a three-year suspended term and $32.9 million fine to Obiang, 51, who was appointed vice president by his father in 2016.