Malabo demands Afrique 24 content halt and correction
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Realequatorialguinea
Equatorial Guinea’s government condemns Afrique 24 programmes about its governance and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, calling them defamatory, and demands they be halted and publicly corrected. It also accuses the channel’s director, Constant Nemale, of diverting control of a state-funded media outlet, according to a statement published in Malabo.
The government of Equatorial Guinea has demanded the immediate halt of content announced by television channel Afrique 24 concerning the management of the state, national institutions and President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. In a statement published in Malabo on 22 October, it asked the channel and its director general, Constant Nemale, to grant a right of reply under the same broadcasting conditions and to publish a correction, Realequatorialguinea reports.
The Equatorial Guinean executive accuses the programmes of lacking rigour, objectivity and impartiality, and presents them as interference in the country’s internal affairs. It also claims that Constant Nemale defrauded the state in connection with the creation and financing of Afrique 24, a dispute that is reportedly being examined by the competent courts. According to the government, Equatorial Guinea provided all of the channel’s funding and has begun steps to recover it.
The government reserves the right to bring further legal proceedings to defend the honour, image and sovereignty of the state, as well as its intellectual property rights over the creation of the channel. It also rejects criticism challenging the democratic nature of Equatorial Guinea’s political system, asserting that the predominance of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea results from elections and not from a legal ban on other parties.
