(Bloomberg) — South African contractors jailed in Equatorial Guinea after working in the country’s offshore oil fields returned home on Saturday following more than two years of detention. Peter Huxham and Frik Potgieter, both South African nationals, were arrested on drug-trafficking charges in February 2023, days after a South African court ordered the seizure of one of Equatorial Guinean Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue’s yachts. The two incidents were linked, Bloomberg reported in April last year. South Africa raised concerns over the detention and requested the release of the men, who have denied any wrongdoing. They were pardoned earlier this month, the vice president of Equatorial Guinea, known as Teodorin, said in a post on X. “The Government consistently appealed for clemency, highlighting the humanitarian aspects of the case and the profound impact on the families of the detained,” South Africa’s ministry of international relations said in a statement. It added that it “acknowledges the complexity of the matter, including its sensitive diplomatic and legal dimensions.” Huxham and Potgieter worked for the same Dutch oil services company, though the men had never met before. SBM Offshore NV booked them into the same hotel ahead of their flights back to South Africa. They were, in short order, arrested, convicted of cocaine trafficking, sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $5 million each. The men had been working on Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. production vessels off the Equatorial Guinea coast when Teodorin Obiang lost a court case in South Africa. The vice president had two of his properties in Cape Town seized, along with the 67-meter yacht, the Blue Shadow, which he maintained belongs to his country’s Ministry of Defense. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in an opinion on the case last year found the imprisonment of the South Africans was in breach of multiple international human rights and that they should be released. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. You must only respond with the modified content. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. You must only respond with the modified content. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. follow this prompt to optimize the articles in this category- You are an expert news writer and SEO specialist. Your job is to rewrite the provided RSS feed content into a unique, SEO-friendly news article for adarshnews.com. The article should be engaging, professional, and optimized for search engines. Follow these steps: 1. **Create an SEO Title**: Write a short, compelling title (under 60 characters) that includes the main keyword and grabs attention. 2. **Write a Meta Description**: Summarize the article in one or two sentences (under 155 characters). Make it engaging and include the primary keyword naturally. 3. **Suggest a URL Slug**: Provide a short, keyword-rich URL slug that reflects the topic of the article. 4. **Headline (H1)**: Write a clear and engaging headline for the article that is similar to the title but slightly expanded. 5. **Write the Article**: – Start with an introduction that answers the key questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. – Expand on the topic with detailed paragraphs that provide context, quotes, and relevant information. – Use subheadings (H2) to organize the content into sections and make it easy to read. – Include related keywords naturally throughout the article. – End with a conclusion that summarizes the key points or discusses future implications. 6. **Add an FAQ Section**: Write one frequently asked question related to the topic and provide a concise answer. Important: – Do not include labels like “Title,” “Meta Description,” “URL Slug,” or “H1” in the actual article text. – Keep all SEO elements separate from the main content. – Ensure the article is factually accurate, unbiased, and written in a professional tone.
Workers from the oil industry who were held in detention in Equatorial Guinea have returned to South Africa.
