Equatorial Guinea has cut internet access to its remote Annobón island and detained dozens of residents after community members complained last July about dynamite explosions carried out by a Moroccan construction company, islanders and rights groups said.
Residents who signed a letter to the government in Malabo in July last year were arrested and spent nearly a year behind bars, according to interviews with several islanders and human rights activists. The internet blackout has remained in effect since then, residents and rights groups said, hampering banking and emergency health services and leaving people reliant on expensive cellphone calls.
Local residents interviewed by The Associated Press said some have fled the island in recent months, citing fear for their safety and the practical difficulties of life without internet. “The current situation is extremely serious and worrying,” one of the signatories who spent 11 months in prison said, speaking anonymously because of fears of further government action.
The shutdown has compounded longstanding grievances on Annobón, a volcanic island about 315 miles (507 kilometers) off the mainland with roughly 5,000 residents. Islanders and advocacy groups say the central government in Malabo has long marginalized the community, failing to provide adequate schools, hospitals and services despite the country’s oil and gas wealth.
Authorities have not explained how the shutdown was implemented. When governments impose internet outages, they often instruct telecom providers to cut connections to specified areas or to block access to certain sites; residents and activists said it was unclear which method was used on Annobón. Phone calls on the island are reportedly monitored, and speaking freely can be risky, said Macus Menejolea Taxijad, a resident who recently began living in exile.
The Moroccan construction firm Somagec, which built an airport on the island that opened in 2013 and has worked on ports and other infrastructure projects across West and Central Africa, acknowledged the outage but denied involvement in ordering it. Somagec’s chief executive, Roger Sahyoun, said the company had to rely on a private satellite for its operations and defended the use of dynamite, saying geotechnical and environmental studies supported the work.
Residents and activists accuse Somagec of polluting farmland and water sources through open-quarry blasting and say the company has been exploring mineral extraction on the island. Activists also allege links between the company and the president’s inner circle, a claim the AP could not independently verify.
Human rights groups say the internet cutoff is part of a broader pattern of repression in Equatorial Guinea, including mass surveillance and restrictions on free expression documented in a 2024 Amnesty International report. Tutu Alicante, an Annobón-born activist who leads the EG Justice organization, said the government’s move marked the first time Malabo cut internet access in direct response to a community complaint rather than during a national election.
The islanders’ plight comes as international scrutiny of Equatorial Guinea’s leadership continues. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 83, is Africa’s longest-serving head of state. His son, the country’s vice president, has been accused of using state funds to support a lavish lifestyle, was convicted in France on money-laundering and embezzlement charges and has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom. The U.N.’s top court last week declined Equatorial Guinea’s request to have a Paris mansion returned to the country, ruling it had not shown a plausible right to its return. Separately, U.S. officials have at times weighed changes to sanctions policy affecting Equatorial Guinea’s vice president.
The internet shutdown has had cascading effects on daily life, residents and rights groups said. Banking services have stopped functioning reliably, emergency medical referrals have been disrupted, and people dependent on remittances and online communication have been left isolated. Access Now, an internet rights group, said governments frequently target connectivity early during protests because online networks enable people to organize and document abuses.
Despite the government’s silence — Equatorial Guinea officials did not respond to requests for comment on Annobón’s conditions or the internet outage — the situation has drawn attention from rights advocates who warn that cutting communications to an isolated community exacerbates human-rights concerns and deprives residents of basic services.
With the internet still blocked, islanders say they remain unable to communicate reliably with family on the mainland, access online information or use telemedicine and digital banking. Activists warned that leaving Annobón disconnected deepens its economic and social marginalization and reinforces a pattern of responding to local grievances with restrictions and force rather than dialogue.
The company’s work on the island continues, and the long-term status of connectivity remains unclear. Rights groups and former island residents called for transparency about the shutdown’s legal basis and an independent investigation into the arrests, the environmental impact of the blasting and any links between private contractors and government officials.