Yves Michel Fotso seized an Equatorial Guinea plane in France

Boeing 777 belonging to the Guinea Equatorial airline company, CEIBA Intercontinental, was seized in France at the Bâle-Mulhouse (East) airport in a debt dispute between Yves Michel Fotso and Equatorial Guinea, on Friday.

Maintained in France, rather than in Ethiopia or in South Africa which have similar technical workshops, the aircraft belonging to the CEIBA International joint company of the supposed very "Africanist" Equatorial Guinea President and Vice president, Theodoro Obiang and Theodorin Nguema, was under technical revision in a maintenance workshop in Mulhouse, France.

The initiation of this seizure came from the Cameroonian businessman, Yves Michel Fotso (Vice Chairman of the eponymous group). Mr. Fotso is currently imprisoned, at the military camp of the Secretariat of State for defence (Gendarmerie) in Yaoundé, for legal trouble under Sparrow Hawk operation, particularly with the Cameroonian presidential plane case.

In the years 2005-2006, after unsuccessfully trying to get the opening in Malabo for the facilities of the Equato-Guinean branch of the Commercial Bank (CBGE which he had yet obtained the approval of the monetary authorities of the same country), despite important developments made, the founder of the Commercial Bank Group, through the Council of the said group decided Me Jackson Ngnie Kamga (current President of counsel for Cameroon) contact the common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA) of Ohada in Abidjan to obtain justice and reparation.

At the end of a long process, the court gave reason to the CBGE and Yves Michel Fotso, condemning the State of Equatorial Guinea to pay them the sum of 45 billion CFA francs representing different damages suffered from obtaining accreditation in early 2000 and the date of the verdict.

After long resistance the State of Equatorial Guinea had to resolve to pay, by transacting a first alert's seizure of one of its assets, after-this time a presidential aircraft - still in France.

But as soon as the boss of the Fotso group was incarcerated in a case related to when he was head of the now defunct Cameroon public air transport company (Camair), Equatorial Guinea has been reluctant.

Sources said some time ago at the end of a mediation between the Gabonese and Cameroon presidents, both parties agreed a year and a half ago of a new agreement. But Equatorial Guinea had not respected the terms of the agreement alleging a conflict between the Cameroonian businessman and his legal counsel.

The seizure which occurred in France is an indication that the file was not closed and that the arbitral sentence by the Ohada court process remains ongoing. It is important to note that this rebound comes at a time where Me Ngnie Kamga, has been in France for 5 days.