EQUATORIAL Guinea President Teodoro Obiang is under increasing pressure from civil groups and campaigners to improve human rights in light of the government’s aim to seek a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Majors and mid-tiers have already given a lukewarm reception to the ongoing licensing round, in which some 27 blocks will be offered off the Rio Muni mainland and the islands of Bioko and Annobon, amid reports that industry is losing confidence in the regime.

Fears focus mainly on indications that Obiang may soon pass the presidency to his son and vice-president Teodorin Obiang, who presently faces a three-year suspended sentence from a Paris court for illegal enrichment, and the uncertainty this would unleash on current and future upstream sector negotiations.

The vice president is blocking ExxonMobil's 71% equity sale of the Zafiro field to French-run Trident Energy and is blocking the entry of Total into blocks EG-18 & EG-10.

Equatorial Guinea currently produces 120,000 barrels per day, but this figure will decline without committed development and a rejuvenated exploration programme.

President Obiang is currently seeking an IMF loan which is preconditioned on the Malabo government signing up to rejoin the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the state’s ability to preserve and re-invigorate the civic space – which activists maintain is under siege.

Oxfam campaigner Isabel Munila indicated that discussions were held with Minister of Mines & Hydrocarbons Gabriel Obiang Lima during the EITI Conference held in Paris in June, ahead of the licensing roadshow in Beijing earlier this month.

The government is hoping Chinese suitors may step in where mainstream players fear to tread.

“We met very serious investors who believe in the immense hydrocarbons potential of Equatorial Guinea and are ready to invest. We will announce agreements very soon,” said the minister.

He insisted that existing reforms “providing a stable regulatory framework and attractive business environment had been key to attracting Chinese investors” and the bidding deadline remained 27 September with awards to be announced on 27 November as scheduled.

This week, a group of civil society organisations including Publish What You Pay, Oxfam America, Natural Resource Governance Institute, Global Witness, Equatorial Guinea Justice and the Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative (LOGI), expressed “deep concern that while the government pledged to improve participation, it has intentionally taken formal action to proactively close down the civic space.”

Their statement condemned “the unwarranted dissolution” of the Centre for Studies and Initiatives for Development (CEID), a prominent human rights organisation in Equatorial Guinea.

“This is a red flag for the EITI Board, as well as investors seeking a stable investment climate,” said executive director of Publish What You Pay, Elisa Peter.

“Investors should take note as the Centre’s work supports other civil society groups and individuals, so dissolution will make its activities illegal (and) have a chilling effect on many activists who will rather stop their work than face reprisal,” said Peter.

Campaigners underscored the EITI requirement that Equatorial Guinea must protect civil society’s ability to comment publicly on the management of oil and gas resources.

The IMF requires the government to implement EITI as a condition for the loan under negotiation.

“In a country with a population of just under 1.3 million, this poor treatment of one of the government’s last prominent critics creates a ripple effect that silences all criticism — in direct conflict with the requirements and mission of the EITI,” according to the collective statement.

“The appalling human rights record and inability of the government to allow public criticism raises fundamental questions about the country’s capacity to meet the basic requirements of the EITI,” said LOGI executive director Diana El Kaissy, who also serves as an alternate EITI Board Member.

“It is critical that the government demonstrates to all its seriousness in addressing these systemic and very well-documented problems,” said Kaissy.

The dissolution of the Centre follows a pattern of intimidation and harassment to silence criticism.

Since 2010, the Centre and its members have been subject to harassment, violent physical assault, deliberate criminalisation and arbitrary arrest, the statement alleges.

Oil companies including ExxonMobil, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Glencore, Kosmos Energy, Marathon, Noble Energy, Ophir Energy and Tullow Oil were called upon “to immediately denounce the attack as unfit for a country wishing to join the EITI".

Campaigners also urged the EITI Board, the IMF and the United Nations to demand the reinstatement of the Centre and the protection of all transparency advocates, including rights to freedom of association.

“If Equatorial Guinea wants to rejoin the EITI, it needs to seriously and meaningfully address its troubling civic space issues and reinstate CEID as one of the key stakeholders to be engaged in the EITI process,” said Peter.

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