Salvador Ondo Ncumu is an Equatoguinean politician and former judge who has served as the country's Minister of Justice since 2018. He had previously served as Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011. [1]
Ondo Ncumu adjourned the trial of 14 suspected foreign mercenaries involved in the 2004 attempted coup d'état for 30 days at the prosecutor's request stating that more time was needed to investigate the case and that the suspension of the trial would end once all "complementary investigations" were conducted. [2] [3] He also read out the verdicts and sentences for the mercenaries and others involved in the coup which included 34 years for South African arms dealer Nick du Toit who would later be pardoned and 63 years for exiled opposition leader Severo Moto who was sentenced in absentia. [4] [5] The case received international media attention due to the involvement of Mark Thatcher who was fined separately in South Africa in connection with the coup. [6] [4]
In August 2010, Ondo Ncumu held a four-day inauguration seminar for the Institute of Judicial Practice of Equatorial Guinea. [7] The seminar's main purpose was for it to be a public presentation of the institute and to celebrate the eighteenth birthday of the judiciary in Equatorial Guinea. [7]
In a January 2011 cabinet reshuffle, he was succeeded as Minister of Justice by Francisco Javier Ngomo who had been the president of the Constitutional Court. [8]
As President of the Constitutional Court of Equatorial Guinea he was in charge of validating and reading out the results of the 2017 legislative election which saw the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea obtain 99 of the 100 deputies of the Chamber of Deputies. [9]
He was reappointed as Minister of Justice in February 2018. [10] In October 2019, he met with his Moroccan counterpart Mohamed Ben Abdelkader in Marrakesh, whilst attending the second International Justice Conference. [11]
In February 2022, Ondo Ncumu presented the Penal Code of Equatorial Guinea bill to the Commission of Justice and Human Rights after its review in the Chamber of Deputies as part of a political program to update and nationalize the legal system of Equatorial Guinea. [12] The bill was conceived and sponsored by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and was an elaboration of a draft from 2009. [12]
Equatorial Guinea, also rarely known as Equatoguinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa, with an area of 28,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location near both the Equator and in the African region of Guinea. As of 2021, the country had a population of 1,468,777.
The politics of Equatorial Guinea take place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President is both the head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Chamber of People's Representatives
Malabo is the capital of Equatorial Guinea and the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko. In 2018, the city had a population of approximately 297,000 inhabitants.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is an Equatoguinean politician and former military officer who has served as the second president of Equatorial Guinea since August 1979. He is the longest-serving president of any country ever and the second-longest consecutively-serving current non-royal national leader in the world.
Francisco Macías Nguema, often mononymously referred to as Macías, was an Equatoguinean politician who served as the first President of Equatorial Guinea from the country's independence in 1968 until his overthrow in 1979. He is widely remembered as one of the most brutal dictators in history.
Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet is an English businessman. He is the son of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, and Sir Denis Thatcher; his sister is Carol Thatcher.
Simon Francis Mann is a British mercenary and former officer in the SAS. He trained to be an officer at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Scots Guards. He later became a member of the SAS. On leaving the military, he co-founded Sandline International with fellow ex-Scots Guards Colonel Tim Spicer in 1996. Sandline operated mostly in Angola and Sierra Leone, but a contract with the government of Papua New Guinea attracted a significant amount of negative publicity in what became known as the Sandline affair.
Equatorial Guinea elects on the national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a seven-year term by the people. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was re-elected unopposed on 15 December 2002. The Chamber of People's Representatives has 100 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies.
Servaas Nicolaas "Niek" du Toit is a former South African arms dealer, former mercenary and former colonel of 32 Battalion and the 5th Reconnaissance Commando. He was implicated in the plot to overthrow Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.
The Dogs of War (1974) is a war novel by British writer Frederick Forsyth, featuring a small group of European mercenary soldiers hired by a British industrialist to depose the government of the fictional African country of Zangaro. The story details a geologist's mineral discovery, and the preparations for the attack: soldier recruitment, training, reconnaissance, and the logistics of the coup d'état. Like most of Forsyth's work, the novel is more about the protagonists' occupational tradecraft than their characters. The source of the title, The Dogs of War, is Act III, scene 1, line 270 of Julius Caesar (1599), by William Shakespeare: Cry, 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war.
Black Beach, located on the island of Bioko, in the capital city of Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, is one of Africa's most notorious prisons.
The 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt, also known as the Wonga Coup, failed to replace President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo with exiled opposition politician Severo Moto. Mercenaries organised by mainly British financiers were arrested in Zimbabwe on 7 March 2004 before they could carry out the plot. Prosecutors alleged that Moto was to be installed as the new president in return for preferential oil rights to corporations affiliated with those involved in the coup. The incident received international media attention after the reported involvement of Sir Mark Thatcher in funding the coup, for which he was convicted and fined in South Africa.
Fabián Nsue Nguema is the most prominent human-rights lawyer in Equatorial Guinea which, under Teodoro Obiang, has been referred to as one of the most repressive regimes in Africa. He is a member of Equatorial Guinea's only legal opposition party, Unión Popular (UP), which frequently denounces human rights violations, and of which he has served as secretary-general. He has defended a number of political prisoners in trials.
James Martin Brabazon, is a British documentary filmmaker, journalist, and author.
María Rosa Ondo Nsing, better known as María Rosa, is an Equatorial Guinean women's football manager and a retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She has been a member of the Equatorial Guinea women's national team, first as a player and later as a coach. She currently chairs the Women's Football Association in her country.
Florencio Mayé Elá Mangue is an Equatoguinean military leader, politician, and diplomat.
Salvador Elá Nseng Abegue was an Equatorial Guinean military leader, politician, and diplomat.
The Ministry of Justice, Worship and Penitentiary Institutions of Equatorial Guinea handles responsibilities such as overseeing the country's bar association, creating judicial rules and procedures, and investigating human rights issues.
The Supreme Military Council — initially called the Military Revolutionary Council — was the ruling military junta and the de facto government of Equatorial Guinea between the 1979 coup d'état and the 1982 constitutional referendum.
General elections were held in Equatorial Guinea on 20 November 2022 to elect the President and members of Parliament, alongside local elections. Originally the parliamentary elections had been scheduled for November 2022 and presidential elections for 2023. However, in September 2022 Parliament approved a proposal to merge the elections due to economic constraints.