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Equatorial Guinea


Blog | Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea bars reporter from press freedom debate

By Peter Nkanga/CPJ West Africa Consultant
Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang (Reuters/James Akena)

To commemorate World Press Freedom Day on May 3, CPJ published a list of the 10 most censored countries, citing Equatorial Guinea as the fifth worst offender. In response, the Minister of Information and government spokesperson, Jerónimo Osa Osa Ecoro, dismissed the analysis of the country's press situation as biased.

"We are going to communicate with those international media organizations who are out to destroy the image of the country," Ecoro told me last week. "They have a biased opinion of the situation in the country."

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May 7, 2012 2:56 PM ET | | Comments (3) | Also in Español
Tags: Censored, Jerónimo Osa Osa Ecoro, RTVGE, Samuel Obiang Mbana, Teobaldo Nchaso Matomba, Teodoro Obiang
Blog | Bangladesh, Belarus, Burma, China, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Nepal, North Korea

China not most censored, but may be most ambitious

By Madeline Earp/CPJ Senior Asia Research Associate
Chinese official Jia Qinglin, fifth from left, hands over keys to the China-built African Union headquarters to AU Chairman and Equatorial Guinea President Theodoro Obiang. (AFP/Tony Karumba)

China didn't make the cut for our 10 most censored countries. While the Chinese Communist Party's censorship apparatus is notorious, journalists and Internet users work hard to overcome the restrictions. Nations like Eritrea and North Korea lack that dynamism.

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May 2, 2012 2:10 PM ET |
Tags: Ai Weiwei, Blogger, Censored, Communist Party, Cyberattack, Huawei, Internet, Liao Yiwu, Liu Xiaobo, Most Censored 2012, Shahidul Alam, Xinhua, Yu Jie, ZTE
Blog | Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea's press silent on unrest in Mali, Syria

By Mohamed Keita/CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator
People walk near a portrait of Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang along a street in Malabo. (Reuters/Luc Gnago)

While Mali remains in global headlines with a March 22 military coup and rebel claims of an independent state, citizens in Equatorial Guinea are kept in the dark about the crisis unless they have access to international media, CPJ has gathered from interviews with journalists and a government spokesman.

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April 6, 2012 6:17 PM ET | | Comments (3)
Tags: Censored, Jerónimo Osa Osa Ekoro, RTVGE, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Blog | Equatorial Guinea

Obiang prize shelved... for now... again

UNESCO's executive board Tuesday again deferred action on the life sciences prize named after and funded by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. The Committee to Protect Journalists joined with other human rights organizations to call on the board to eliminate the prize permanently.

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October 5, 2011 9:49 AM ET | | Comments (1)
Tags: African Union, Obiang Prize, UNESCO
Blog | Equatorial Guinea

Obiang prize goes down to the wire

By Joel Simon/CPJ Executive Director

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is a stubborn man.  In 2008, the president of Equatorial Guinea made a $3 million donation to UNESCO to underwrite a prize in the life sciences. But a groundswell of opposition from human rights groups, press freedom organizations, and governments appalled by Obiang's record of kleptocracy and human rights abuses helped raise a global ruckus. Public pressure eventually forced UNESCO's executive board to reach a face saving agreement to suspend the prize while promising "to continue the consultations among all parties."

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October 3, 2011 10:03 AM ET |
Tags: African Union, Obiang Prize, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, UNESCO
Blog | Equatorial Guinea

UNESCO must reject Obiang prize bid

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined with eight other human rights organizations today in opposing the bid for a UNESCO life sciences prize named after Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. CPJ and other groups have consistently voiced their opposition to this prize, saying that Equatorial Guinea's human rights record undercuts the UNESCO mission.

Last year, after human rights organizations, press freedom groups, scientists, journalists, and intellectuals spoke out against the bid, the Obiang prize was suspended indefinitely.

The press release can be seen here. 

September 26, 2011 5:29 PM ET |
Tags: Obiang Prize, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, UNESCO
Blog | Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Zimbabwe

Sub-Saharan Africa censors Mideast protests

By Mohamed Keita/CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator
A man sets up a satellite dish in Zimbabwe, where state news is severely restricted on the ongoing protests in the Middle East, but where CNN is still accessible. (AP)As news of Middle Eastern and North African protests swirl around the globe, satellite television and the Internet prove vital sources of information for Africans as governments fearful of an informed citizenry and a free press such as in Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, and Zimbabwe impose total news blackouts on the developments.
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February 18, 2011 4:08 PM ET | | Comments (7)
Tags: Censored, Eskinder Nega, Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, Radio Télévision de Djibouti
Blog | Equatorial Guinea

With abysmal press freedom record, Obiang takes AU chair

By Tom Rhodes/CPJ East Africa Consultant
Reuters

The African Union announced on Sunday that the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, will become the new chairman in the union's yearly rotating leadership. The first debate Obiang (at left) presided over at the two-day AU conference that ends today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, concerned "shared values"--highlighting issues of democracy and good governance. Representing one of Africa's most oppressive dictatorships, with a completely stifled press, the new AU chair could hardly refer to personal experience in such a debate.

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January 31, 2011 5:46 PM ET | | Comments (1)
Tags: African Union, Agence France-Presse, Nguema, Rodrigo Angue, Samuel Obiang Mbana, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Blog | CPJ, Equatorial Guinea

Obiang prize suspended indefinitely

By Joel Simon/CPJ Executive Director
The Obiang prize, named for and funded by one of Africa's most notorious dictators, was a very poor idea from the start and our goal, bluntly, was to kill it. We didn't quite succeed in getting an outright cancellation, but the prize, while technically alive, is in a deep coma with virtually no chance of recovery. How the prize came to a halt is detailed in a press release available on the website of the Open Society Institute's Justice Initiative, but here's the story in a nutshell.

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October 21, 2010 12:55 PM ET |
Tags: Cano, Impact, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, UNESCO, United Nations
Blog | Equatorial Guinea

UNESCO's dictator prize put on hold

By Joel Simon/Executive Director
Bokova (AP)

Irina Bokova, UNESCO's director-general, delivered a firm message on Tuesday to representatives from UNESCO's 58-member executive board assembled at the organization's Paris headquarters: Bestowing the Obiang International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, named for and financed by one of the most repressive leaders in Africa, would do grave damage to the organization.

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June 16, 2010 12:09 PM ET |
Tags: Cheng Yizhong, Geoffrey Nyarota, Impact, Lasantha Wickramatunga, Lydia Cacho, May Chidiac, Nizar Nayyouf, Raúl Rivero, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, UNESCO
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