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REUTERS Pope Leo‘s four-nation Africa tour headed towards a dramatic close on Wednesday, with the pontiff braving a heavy rainstorm to greet crowds in Equatorial Guinea after speaking at a prison where inmates cried out for freedom. Widely derided as one of
REUTERS
Pope Leo‘s four-nation Africa tour headed towards a dramatic close on Wednesday, with the pontiff braving a heavy rainstorm to greet crowds in Equatorial Guinea after speaking at a prison where inmates cried out for freedom.
Widely derided as one of the most repressive countries in the region, Spanish-speaking Equatorial Guinea has been run since 1979 by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world’s longest-serving president. It has enjoyed warm ties with the U.S. in part because of its oil riches.
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Leo, the first U.S. pope who has debuted a forceful new speaking style while in Africa, began the day by denouncing wealth inequality during a Mass in the largest religious structure in Central Africa, a church in the town of Mongomo, situated at the edge of the Congo Basin rainforest.
He then visited a prison in the city of Bata, a facility where detainees are regularly held for years without access to lawyers, Amnesty International says.
Leo listened to several testimonies from prisoners who had gathered in a yard inside the facility. As he made remarks it began to rain, but the detainees remained standing outside.
The pope asked that “every effort” be made to allow detainees the opportunity to study and work during their confinement.
As he was leaving, and as Justice Minister Reginaldo Biyogo Mba Ndong Anguesomo remained on stage, prisoners began jumping up and down in the rain and shouting: “Freedom, freedom!”
Equatorial Guinea has long dismissed accusations of human rights abuses. Before Leo spoke at the prison in Bata, Biyogo said the country treats prisoners fairly in accordance with United Nations standards.
“We are committed to guaranteeing human rights, fundamental rights, and citizenship,” he said.
Obiang’s government last year struck a deal with the Trump administration to accept deportees from other countries, one in a series of such arrangements in Africa that have drawn criticism from immigration lawyers and advocates.
Activists were hoping Leo would draw attention to the deportees sent from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea.
A group of 70 NGOs published an open letter on Monday calling on Leo to push for “fair, humane and lawful treatment” of the deportees, saying they were being pressured to return to their home countries.