Ghana pulls citizens out of EG

2004-03-16 10:02

Accra - Ghana has begun evacuating hundreds of its citizens from oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, where authorities are cracking down on foreigners after the government discovered a possible coup plot last week, officials said on Monday.

A Ghanaian Air Force plane retrieved 41 Ghanaians on Monday and 79 on Sunday from Equatorial Guinea's capital, Malabo. Some 300 more are to be evacuated by ship in the coming days, authorities said.

Many of the 41 Ghanaians flown to Accra on Monday arrived without any belongings, saying they were rounded up in the streets by police and jailed. Many acknowledged having expired visas, but said the crackdown was harsh, and for some, fatal.

Security forces in Equatorial Guinea "shot some people dead, a lot of them, and I was terrified", 25-year-old construction worker Georges Yaw told reporters in Accra, vowing never to return.

Frederick Arthur, 45, said he'd lived in Equatorial Guinea for 14 years, working as a security officer at Malabo University.

Residence

"I was whisked off on my way home from work by policemen who would not even allow me to inform my wife and children," said Arthur, who said his residence permit expired a year ago.

Equatorial Guinea officials could not be reached for comment.

The crackdown comes after the recent arrest of scores of suspected mercenaries who've been accused of plotting to overthrow Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang.

Sixty-seven suspects were detained on March 7 in Harare, Zimbabwe after arriving there on a Boeing 727, apparently to collect weapons before heading to Equatorial Guinea.

Fifteen other suspected mercenaries were arrested two days later in Equatorial Guinea, also on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.

On Thursday, Equatorial Guinea security forces expelled at least 300 citizens of Cameroon, which shares its northern border. Many are still there.

In Malabo on Monday, 500 frightened Cameroonian citizens sought refuge around their embassy, saying their homes were looted by security officials.

Obiang took power of the tiny nation of 500 000 in a coup that ousted his uncle in 1979.

The country gained independence from Spain in 1968, and today it is one of the most repressive nations on earth, according to the US state department, which has reported numerous cases of torture and beatings of prisoners.

- SAPA