Leaders of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) in Equatorial Guinea say that Andrés Esono Ondo, the party’s general secretary, has returned home after two weeks of detention in neighboring Chad.

He was flown to Cameroon from N’Djamena by Chadian authorities who, according to the CPDS account, determined there was no evidence to support the accusations made against him by the government of Equatorial Guinea.

These included the charges that he planned a coup against the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and was in Chad to purchase weapons and recruitment mercenary fighters to the cause. Those allegations were confirmed in a statement from the government of Equatorial Guinea on April 12.

The CPDS said Osono was questioned about any role in a failed coup d’état of December 2017 in Equatorial Guinea. Obiang made the same claim against the forcibly dissolved Citizens for Innovation (CI) opposition party at that time, when its leaders were accused of conspiring with Chadians to overthrow Obiang.

The CPDS has maintained that Esono was invited to attend a conference for Chad’s main political opposition party, the National Union for Development and Renewal (UNDR), as he had on two prior occasions.

“CPDS expresses its gratitude to the authorities of Chad who at all times treated Andrés Esono with respect and courtesy, without brutalizing him at any time, which marks an important difference with the usual practices in Equatorial Guinea,” the party said in its statement.

The 58-year-old Osono was delayed in Malabo upon his arrival but later returned to his own home.

Image: Esono file