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Equatorial Guinea: Call for independent international probe into Bata explosions
2:50 CAT | 16 Mar 2021
Image: Twitter / @La_Vice_Press
GE Nuestra, or Equatorial Guinea is also Ours, a recently created citizens’ platform, has demanded “an independent international investigation” into the fatal explosions that took place last week in the city of Bata, also demanding compensation for state civil liability for all the victims.
GE Nuestra demanded that the government of Equatorial Guinea facilitate the holding of an independent international professional investigation as soon as possible.
The platform thus added its voice to an appeal made last week by two other non-governmental organisations – Human Rights Watch and EGJustice.
COMUNICADO: Indemnización, investigación y justicia para las víctimas de Bata – (Foto de Somo+) #GuineaEcuatorial #Bata https://t.co/FDZP99cSx8 pic.twitter.com/zQGMIvlKcU
— GUINEA ECUATORIAL TAMBIEN ES NUESTRA (@EcuatorialEs) March 15, 2021
The port city of Bata, the most populous in Equatorial Guinea, was rocked on 7 March by a series of explosions at the Nkuantoma military camp that killed over 100 people and injured more than 600, left an unspecified number homeless and caused extensive material damage.
Immediately after the explosions, the country’s president, Teodoro Obiang, announced that he had ordered an investigation into the events, while saying that they had been caused by field burning on “nearby land” and by “the negligence of the unit” in charge of protecting explosives deposited in the barracks.
The authorities in the capital, Malabo, have since announced the arrest of a special forces soldier who is said to be suspected of causing the explosions.
The GE Nuestra platform brings together civil society leaders, human rights defenders, activists and professionals from various fields in Equatorial Guinea and abroad with the aim of establishing a democratic state and rule of law in the country, whose government has been headed by Obiang for more than 42 years.
In the same statement, they ask the government to “identify similar points of storage of explosives and weapons, so that experts can determine whether these weapons are stored according to the required procedures.”
The platform also demands the start of the process of identifying “all those affected so that the victims can be compensated for the state’s civil responsibility,” stressing that a week after the explosion “many families are still abandoned.”
At the same time, it lamented, the authorities have used victims’ funerals to pump out propaganda.
“The celebration of a state funeral where almost half of the 107 deceased were not identified and where, as a form of funeral ‘marketing’, envelopes with money were distributed with the bodies present, does not represent the respect and reparation due to the victims of the greatest tragedy ever experienced in the country,” the GU Nuestra said.
The platform, which has members and volunteers working to support the victims in Bata, reiterated the need to “urgently implement” a set of measures to support victims’ families, including free medical care and scholarships for children, especially those who were orphaned by the explosions.
According to the latest report by the United Nations Office for the Co-ordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 107 people died in the explosions and a further 119 people, most of them children, are still in hospital.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), some 150 families were displaced and are in temporary shelters, with one third of these people being children.
At least 243 buildings were severely damaged and the area around the blast site remains accessible to residents, “who collect metal debris from damaged munitions, resulting in a safety and security concern,” the OCHA report notes.
S.E. Teodoro Nguema Obiang quiere conocer las causas que provocaron las explosiones del pasado domingo en la ciudad de #Bata.
Toda la información aquí 👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿https://t.co/HpiEPyUAwz pic.twitter.com/KSC5AW0gPb
— La Vicepresidencia (@La_Vice_Press) March 11, 2021
À la demande du @PresidentABO, je me suis rendue ce vendredi à Bata en #GuineeEquatoriale, ville meurtrie par une terrible explosion dimanche.
J’ai exprimé au Président Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo du soutien total du #Gabon.
Un don de 500 millions de FCFA a été effectué. pic.twitter.com/2l1Vou7QWs— Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda (@OssoukaRaponda) March 12, 2021
Source: Lusa
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