Equatorial Guinea applies the one year internet breakdown for the island which protested against the construction company

Lagos, Nigeria – When residents of the island of Annobón of Equatorial Guinea wrote to the Malabo government in July of last year complaining of dynamite explosions by a Moroccan construction company, they did not expect the rapid end of their internet access.

Dozens of signatories and residents were imprisoned for almost a year, while internet access to the small island has been cut since then, according to several residents and rights for the defense of rights.

The local residents interviewed by the Associated Press have left the island in recent months, citing fear for their life and the difficulty of life without the Internet.

Banking services have stopped, hospital services for emergencies have been interrupted and residents say they accumulate telephone bills they cannot afford, as mobile phone calls are the only way to communicate.

When governments have closed the internet, they often ask telecommunications suppliers to cut connections to designated locations or to access to designated websites, although it is not clear exactly how the closure works in Annobón.

The internet stop remains in force, residents confirmed alongside activists, at a time when the Trump administration planned to release corruption sanctions against the country’s vice-president.

The Moroccan company Somagec, which, according to the activists, is linked to the president, confirmed the breakdown but denied going there. The AP could not confirm a link.

“The current situation is extremely serious and worrying,” said one of the signatories who spent 11 months in prison, speaking anonymously for fear of being targeted by the government.

In addition to the closure of the Internet, “telephone calls are strongly monitored and speak freely can represent a risk,” said Macus Menejolea Taxijad, a resident who recently started to live in exile.

This is only the last of the repressive measures that the country has deployed to crush criticism, including mass monitoring, according to an Amnesty International 2024 report.

Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, is led by the oldest president in Africa, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who, at 83, was president of more than half of his life. His son is vice-president and is accused of having spent public funds on a sumptuous lifestyle. He was found guilty of money laundering and diversion in France and sanctioned by the United Kingdom

Despite the country’s oil and gas wealth, at least 57% of its almost 2 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank. Officials, their families and their inner circle, meanwhile, live a luxury life.

The government of Equatorial Guinea has not responded to the AP survey on the island, its state and its internet access.

Located in the Atlantic Ocean at around 315 miles (507 kilometers) from the Equatorial Guinea Coast, Annobón is one of the poorest islands in the country and often in conflict with the central government. With a population of around 5,000 inhabitants, the island has been looking for the country’s independence for years while it accuses the government of not taking into account its residents.

Internet closure is the last of a long history of Malabo repressive responses to the island’s political and economic requests, say the activists, citing regular arrests and the absence of adequate social equipment such as schools and hospitals.

“Their marginalization is not only from a political point of view, but from a cultural, societal and economic point of view,” said Mercè Monje Cano, secretary general of the world defense group of peoples and not represented nations.

A new airport which opened its doors in Annobón in 2013, built by Somagec, promised to connect the island to the rest of the country. But not much has improved, say the inhabitants and the activists. The Internet closure has rather aggravated the living conditions there, collapsing key infrastructure, including health care and banking services.

In 2007, Equatorial Guinea concluded a commercial agreement with Somagec, a Moroccan construction company that developed ports and electricity transmission systems across West and Central Africa.

The geological formation of Annobón and the volcanic past make the island rich in rocks and widens the influence of Malabo in the Gulf of Guinea, which is abundantly rich in oil. Somagec has also built a port and, according to activists, explored mineral extraction in Annobón since it started its operations on the island.

Residents and activists have said that business dynamite explosions in open careers and construction activities have polluted their agricultural land and their water supply. The work of the company on the island continues.

Residents hoped to put pressure on the authorities to improve the situation with their complaint in July from last year. Instead, Obiang then deployed a repressive tactic now common in Africa to cut internet access to suppress demonstrations and criticism.

This was different from past cases when Malabo limited the internet during an election.

“This is the first time that the government cuts off because a community has had a complaint,” said Tutu Alicante, an activist born in Annobon who heads the human rights organization for example.

The power of the Internet to allow people to challenge their leaders threaten the authorities, according to Felicia Anthonio access to access, a group for the defense of rights on the Internet. “So the first thing they do during a demonstration is to go after the internet,” said Anthonio.

The CEO of Somagec, Roger Sahyoun, denied having contributed to the closure and said that the company itself had been forced to count on a private satellite. He defended the dynamite dynamite as a critic for his construction projects, saying that all the necessary assessments had been carried out.

“After undertaking geotechnical and environmental impact studies, the current site where the career has been opened has been confirmed as the best place to meet all the criteria,” said Sahyoun in an email.

Residents, on the other hand, continue to undergo the closure of the Internet, unable to use the private satellite deployed by the company.

“Annobón is far away and far from the capital and (rest of the continent),” said Alicante, activist of the island. “So you leave people there without access to the rest of the continent … and to the 2.”

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