Equatorial Guinea celebrated the 42nd Anniversary of the Freedom Coup on August 3, an important national holiday, commemorating the abolishing a regime that oppressed the people during the first 11 years of our national sovereignty. This year the celebration takes place under the strict security measures marked by the COVID pandemic, with the attendance of few spectators.

The president’s celebration speech turned out to be quite serious and even gloomy, as he spoke of the enemies that try to bring down the country.

“I have the duty and obligation to inform the People of Equatorial Guinea that credible sources have shown the actions of our enemies that confirm the desire and plans to destabilize our nation through dangerous mechanisms to end our stability”, said Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, “I therefore invite all citizens to remain vigilant and to provide information on any plans that may be drawn up to prevent the law enforcement and security forces of the State”.

The President insisted that the shadow comes from the West, referring to several incidents in the diplomatic sphere that took place recently. Thus, on July 29, a “reconnaissance helicopter” had landed without authorization after violating Equatorial Guinea’s air space.

That is what Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo said: “The increase in negative propaganda and attacks against Equatorial Guinea and its leaders by European powers confirm the veracity of these plans. It has been observed that some developed countries are taking systematic action against Equatorial Guinea in particular and Africa in general, motivated by their policy of seeking, appropriating and exploiting our natural resources in a gratuitous and abusive manner with the aim of resolving the crisis situation currently experienced by those powers.”

This notion is supported by the recent the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) report. According to the report that Equatorial Guinea is experiencing a steep decrease in the peace processes. The experts also claim that incidents like Bata explosion in March 2020 proved that the defense forces of Equatorial Guinea are in a rather poor shape. All these factors make Equatorial Guinea more likely to experience increasing levels of violence over the next decade.

The urge to build up stronger defense system is a burning question for the Equatoguinean authorities. On August 2, Vice President of the Republic Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue presided the traditional graduation ceremony and delivery of offices of the 26th Promotion of Officers, and the 11th Promotion of Non-Commissioned Officers. This ceremony was an important event of Equatoguinean authorities as recently they have been keeping a close eye on their military. Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue himself has carried out multiple inspections of the military facilities and checked the competences of the military personnel.

vanguardngr