The first humanitarian aid plane, from Spain, arrived in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, including medical equipment for victims of explosions at an ammunition depot last Sunday in the heart of the country’s economic capital. The blasts officially left 105 dead and 615 wounded, but certainly many more, according to Human Rights Watch, which calls for an independent investigation into the origin of the disaster.
The Association for the Defense of Human Rights, which is not convinced of the authorities’ explanations the causes of the disaster, asks that all light be shed on sending an independent international inquiry to Bata.
“In two separate communications, the Equatorial Guinean presidency said the fire had been started by farmers in the area and that there had been some neglect by the team protecting the explosives. But we have no evidence,” Sarah Saadoun said of Human Rights. Watch, along with Claire Fages, of the African Service for RFI. This explanation was given immediately after the explosion without prior investigation, so it is impossible for us to know whether it is true or not.
A densely populated urban area
There are other rumors circulating in the country: some say there was actually artillery training to deal with explosives. Others say it was the soldiers themselves who started a brush fire. But again, since we have no information to confirm any of these hypotheses, we demand an independent and credible investigation. ”
In addition to raising Sarah Saadoun, the explosives were stored in the middle of a densely populated urban area. What measures have been implemented to protect them? Are there other explosives in other residential areas that could pose a danger? “This tragedy raises a whole host of questions that deserve and require reliable answers,” Sarah Saadoun concludes.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for 42 years and especially trusts the army, blamed officials at the Nkoa Ntoma camp in Bata for storing the explosives so close to the camp, which housed especially special forces and gendarmerie elements. leveled, but the damage went far beyond. “The blast of the explosion damaged almost all the Bata buildings,” the head of state said in a press release last weekend.
Spain sent emergency medical aid (2,600 kilograms of equipment) on Wednesday, and France also announced on Wednesday that medical equipment, ten civil security demonstrators, detainees and kitchen equipment were being sent to the victims in particular.
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