WRITTEN QUESTION E-0717/00

by Carlos Carnero González (PSE) to the Commission

(17 March 2000)

Subject: Preparations for the Eighth summit on progress and development in Equatorial Guinea

The press agency Agence France Presse reported on 11 February that a meeting had been held in Malabo on 10 February between Teodoro Obiang, President of Equatorial Guinea, and Friedrich Nagel, Head of the Commission Delegation in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

According to this report, Mr Nagel stated on the radio that the object of his visit was to deliver to Mr Obiang an official letter of notification concerning the Eighth summit on progress and development in Equatorial Guinea. There was no public announcement of the date and place of this summit.

As many NGOs have pointed out, including the Spanish NGO Asodegue and the international organisation Médecins sans Frontières, the situation in Equatorial Guinea is deteriorating constantly, to the point where Médecins sans Frontières has had to abandon the humanitarian work it was engaged in on the ground.

The deterioration results from an ongoing lack of democracy and respect for human rights, with widespread poverty among the population, despite the country's natural resources being exploited with increasing rapidity.

The responsibility for this lamentable situation clearly rests with the regime of Mr Obiang, who has systematically failed to fulfil all his promises of progress towards a constitutional State.

Under these circumstances, Mr Nagel's visit raises justifiable concern, as it gives the impression that the Commission intends to resume cooperation with Guinea despite the inertia of the country's ruling dictatorship.

In view of the above:

- can the Commission provide detailed information about Mr Nagel's visit to Malabo?

- what is its view of the lack of progress towards democracy in Guinea?

- does it intend to make resumption of cooperation with this country conditional on a democracy clause?

- what is the content of the Eighth summit for progress and development in Equatorial Guinea?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(18 April 2000)

The information published on the Commission's relations with Equatorial Guinea is incorrect.

The Commission has no knowledge of the Eighth summit on progress and development in Equatorial Guinea. However, on 11 February the Head of the Commission delegation in Equatorial Guinea did indeed meet President Obiang. The meeting had two aims: to give Mr Obiang the letter of notification stating the amount allocated to Equatorial Guinea under the Eighth European Development Fund (EDF), and to inform him of the imminent arrival of a Community human rights mission.

In recent years, relations between the Community and Equatorial Guinea have been significantly affected by the latter's difficulties with its process of democratisation and respect for human rights. Together with the Member States represented there, the Commission is conducting an intensive political dialogue with the government in order to take the democratisation process forward.

Equatorial Guinea is a country in which Community cooperation can nevertheless play a significant role in terms of impact on the poorest sections of the population.

The Commission is, for instance, financing a project to rehabilitate the drinking water supply and sanitation networks of the town of Malabo and plans to fund a similar project for Bata. Both projects will go a long way towards improving the living conditions of the most vulnerable population groups in Equatorial Guinea.

The Commission is also due to send a mission of three independent experts to Equatorial Guinea in the near future to establish a plan of action for democratisation, human rights, the fight against poverty and the development of civil society.

The Commission is closely following the situation in the country via its office in Malabo and by means of frequent contacts with the Member States and other international donors.

The Commission has acted and will continue to act with the greatest caution in relations with Equatorial Guinea to promote the establishment of the rule of law and facilitate the democratisation process, two areas which will continue to be given priority in discussions with the country's authorities.