Views differ on human rights situation

As the UN Commission on Human Rights prepares to review the situation in Equatorial Guinea, there are diverging views on whether or not a special UN representative should continue to be tasked with reporting on human rights in the Central African nation. The UN Special Representative on Equatorial Guinea, Gustavo Gallon, feels the situation in the Central African country requires continued monitoring, and so does Amnesty International. However, African countries represented on the Commission have asked it to terminate Gallon's mandate. The 53-member commission, which is due to review the mandate on Friday, has monitored human rights violations in Equatorial Guinea since 1979. In a January report, Gallon said the country still lacked rule of law. The government, he said, had concentrated power in its hands, did not respect political parties, used military force against civilians and was intolerant of political opponents. "The human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea should continue to be monitored to ensure the implementation of the recommendations repeatedly made by the commission over the last 20 years," Gallon said. The recommendations included strengthening the rule of law, respect for freedoms, and promotion of human rights. Commission officials, however, told IRIN on Tuesday that African members of the commission felt the human rights situation in the country had improved. Some 12 African countries chaired by Nigeria sit on the commission. "They have said the government has improved the situation and ratified conventions," an official said. "They want the energies of the commission to be focused on technical cooperation instead of monitoring." Amnesty International on Monday appealed to the commission not to end the mandate. "International monitoring in Equatorial Guinea is essential, especially now when human rights violations are still being perpetrated, including the incommunicado detention for a month of more than 50 suspects who are at a risk of being tortured to death." Since March, Amnesty said, more than 100 people including civilians and military personnel have been detained by the government for alleged links with an opposition group, the Republican Democratic Force. The detainees,it added, included a former Minister of Finance, Guillermo Nguema Ela, a pregnant woman and three sons of a former parliamentarian. "Torture by security forces is routine in Equatorial Guinea and Amnesty has repeatedly denounced these widespread practices as well as the detention of 50 members of the Bubi ethnic group sentenced in June 1998 after an unfair military trial," Amnesty said. The Bubi are a minority group in Equatorial Guinea, a Central African country of about 550,000 people wedged between Cameroon and Gabon. The country is led by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who seized power in a military coup in 1979, won a seven year-term in a much criticized election in 1996, and detained several opposition leaders soon after. Some of the detainees are serving prison terms of up to 60 years. [For further information see the web sites of the Commission http://www.unhchr.ch and Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org/ ]