Equatorial Guinean Opposition Calls for Boycott of 2015 AFCON
Just one day before the kickoff of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), tensions are rising in Equatorial Guinea. Several opposition parties held a media conference on Thursday urging the public to boycott the tournament, which they claim is deepening poverty and repression in the country.
In a joint statement released by the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), the Popular Union (UP), and the Republican Democratic Force (FDR), the parties called on citizens “not to go to football stadiums during the celebration of a CAN which will make you poorer and more enslaved.”
Andres Esono Ondo, spokesperson for the opposition coalition, criticized the regime of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for lack of freedom of expression, noting that “the existing media are exclusively at the service of the PDGE (Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, in power). Obiang blocks the websites of the opposition and others that criticize him.”
The opposition further condemned the significant public spending on AFCON infrastructure, which they argue comes at the cost of basic needs for a population already suffering from “extreme poverty.”
This political unrest follows the arrest of two opposition figures, Celestino Okenve and Santiago Martin, on Wednesday, after they publicly called for a boycott of the competition.
Despite the controversy, the opening ceremony of the 30th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is set to proceed Saturday in Bata, under the heavy shadow of political and social unrest.
