In 1993, the central government isolated the island, expelling foreigners including humanitarian organizations. The population rebelled and attacked the governor's residence. The government replied with two extrajudicial executions. International pressure eased hostilities, and political prisoners were released. It was mostly due to this small island that Equatorial Guinea asked for observer status just after the Community of Portuguese Language Countries was formed in 1996, which led to a visit to Equatorial Guinea, in 1998, by the Portuguese foreign minister, Jaime Gama. Its historic, ethnographic, and religious identity is reflected in its provincial flag. In 2006, Equatorial Guinea achieved observer status with the hand of São Tomé and Príncipe, it kept lobbying to become a full member, contrary to international pressure that wanted to isolate the country due to human rights violations, becoming a full member in 2014 with the very active support of Portuguese-speaking Africa, with the Portuguese language being restored as an official language. Flora and fauna Originally, this small equatorial island from the Gabonese coast was uninhabited and had great biological diversity. With colonization, islanders used rafts or "cayucos" (canoe-like boats), and hunted humpback whales, whale calves, and other cetaceans with harpoons near to the island. Today the Annobón white-eye (Zosterops griseovirescens) and the Annobón paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone smithii) are endemic passeri (songbirds), as is the São Tomé Island or Malherbi pigeon (Columba malherbii). There are 29 species of bird on the island as well as 2 bat species (1 endemic); reptiles (5 species endemics): 1 snake, 3 geckos, 2 scincid lizards, 3 marine turtles; river fish: 18 species (1 endemic); mosquitoes, scorpions, and huge centipedes. Introduced domestic animals include fish, guinea fowl, rats, dogs, and cats. The island has no indigenous mammalian predators. Sharks are found in the surrounding sea. There are 208 species of vascular plant (of which 15% are endemic) including the "point up" baobab, ceiba (used for cayuco construction), ficus, ferns and tree ferns, and great moss masses. Administration The capital of the province is San Antonio de Palé (formerly St Antony). The island has three community councils (Consejos de Poblados): Anganchi, Aual, and Mabana. Demographics The island's inhabitants are of mixed Portuguese and Angolan descent, with some Spanish admixture. The early anti-Spanish sentiment, combined with the isolation from mainland Equatorial Guinea and the proximity of São Tomé and Príncipe—which is just from the island—has helped preserve the island's cultural ties with Portugal. Its