Annobón, the former “black republic” that is burning to emancipate itself from Equatorial Guinea

It's a "tiny, isolated island in the Atlantic," a 17-square ^- kilometer "rocky atoll" off the coast of Gabon, populated by some 5,000 people. In one of its articles, New Lines Magazine focuses on a rather unknown territory: Annobón Island, now under the sovereignty of Equatorial Guinea.

In Madrid, journalist Bernardo Álvarez-Villar met with several members of the Ambô Legadu (or “Free Annobón”) group. On July 8, 2022, from their Spanish exile, they unilaterally proclaimed the advent of the “Independent Republic of Annobón.”

It was "a way of denouncing the economic backwardness, isolation and political repression of which they say they have been victims for the 46 years of the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema – the longest-serving dictator in the world, but also one of the cruelest – and for decades before him."

The island was discovered during the second half of the ^15th century by the Portuguese. They settled there a population of slaves from Angola. Although the territory came under Spanish sovereignty in 1778, its relative isolation and the lack of interest shown by the colonists led to its gradual abandonment by the Europeans.

This led to “a de facto period of decolonization, in which the inhabitants governed themselves, which lasted almost throughout the ^18th and ^19th centuries.” Annobón then established a form of local democracy, embodied by a “council of elders” called “Vidjil.”

This autonomy ended with the arrival of missionaries at the end of the 19th ^century , then the granting of independence to Equatorial Guinea by Franco's Spain in 1968. Annobón was incorporated into the young state, despite the 700 kilometers that separated it from the capital, Malabo.

Tensions quickly emerged with the authoritarian Nguema regime. As New Lines Magazine explains, the island's residents complained about the lack of investment in health, education, and the communications network. Above all, they denounced the plundering of fishing resources as well as opaque real estate and mining projects sanctioned by a notoriously corrupt government.

The journalist paints a grim picture: the declaration of independence from Spain in 2022 led to severe repression and the arrest of at least 42 Annobón residents. Some, wondering whether autonomy is truly desirable, prefer to bet on political change in Malabo. “For now, the restoration of the Black Republic of Annobón remains a fantasy hatched in a small café in central Madrid.”