Frenchman suspected of espionage arrested in Equatorial Guinea according to state television

A Frenchman suspected of espionage and links with an opposition group considered “terrorist” was arrested by the authorities of Equatorial Guinea in Bata, the economic capital of the country, state television TVGE reported on Wednesday.

This oil and authoritarian state in Central Africa, led by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo since 1979, is regularly singled out for its liberticidal excesses.

A former soldier accused of being close to the opposition

According to TVGE, this Frenchman presented as a former soldier was arrested in Rio Campo, in the Littoral province, near the border with Cameroon. Equipped with a tourist e-visa, he would have first spent four days in Malabo, the former capital located on the island of Bioko, before going to Cameroon then returning to Equatorial Guinea via the land border. According to the channel, Equatorial Guinean authorities reported that he was in possession of maps of the continental region and sketches of the borders with Cameroon and Gabon, particularly around the Ntem River and the localities of Kie-Osi and Modoun. Rio Campo, where the man was arrested, is home to a detachment of the Equatoguinean Navy opposite a Cameroonian Navy post, on the Ntem River estuary.

The authorities also claimed to have found traces of telephone exchanges with a number attributed to Salomon Abeso Ndong, presented as a member of the Coalition for the Restoration of a Democratic State (CORED), an opposition movement in exile that Malabo officially declared a “terrorist group” in September. According to TVGE, a reward of 1.5 million euros would be offered for the capture and repatriation to Equatorial Guinea of ​​Salomon Abeso. The arrested Frenchman remains detained until the reasons for his presence are clarified, the channel said.