Malabo – Equatorial Guinea compensated 84 families of victims of explosions last year that rocked a military camp in Bata, state television said on Saturday.
Four blasts ravaged the Nkoa Ntoma camp in the oil-rich country’s economic hub Bata, killing 107 people and injuring 615 others on March 7, 2021.
The blasts involving ammunition stocks and explosives destroyed buildings at the compound and houses in residential areas nearby.
Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, vice president and the long-serving president’s son, led a ceremony Friday and Saturday to release the funds.
“The Equatorial Guinea government has released 700 million CFA francs ($1.1 million) to compensate the victims,” state television channel TVGE said.
The families of those who died received eight million CFA francs each while those who suffered amputations got four million CFA francs.
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Bata is home to 800 000 of the country’s 1.4 million people, the majority of whom live in grinding poverty despite the small nation’s oil and gas wealth.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the small nation with an iron fist for over 42 years, blamed the military at the time for “negligence” in stocking ammunition so close to residential areas.
A military court last July sentenced two soldiers to 35 and 50 years in prison for negligence.
The military remains all-powerful and spoilt by leaders despite a sluggish economy after the fall in hydrocarbon prices since 2014 on which the country is 90 percent dependent.
Equatorial Guinea allocated 95 billion CFA francs for defence in its 2020 budget, compared with 59 billion CFA francs ($98 million) for education.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Unsplash
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