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10/03/04
ZIMBABWE has threatened to execute some 60 suspected mercenaries detained
this week and accused U.S., British and Spanish spy agencies of
involvement in a plot to topple Equatorial Guinea's government.
Equatorial Guinea, which has arrested what it called an advance party of
15 mercenaries, said on Wednesday "enemy powers" and multinational
companies had been plotting against the small oil-producing central
African state.
The two countries, some 2,000 miles apart, have put their security forces
on high alert since Zimbabwe seized a Boeing 727 carrying about 60 men,
most of them South Africans, Angolans and Namibians, both white and
black, on Sunday.
Associates of the men say they are innocent mine guards swept up in a
bizarre misunderstanding.
"They are going to face the severest punishment available in our
statutes, including capital punishment. We will give them all the rights
they are entitled to," Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge told
reporters.
"They were aided by the British secret service, that is MI6, (the)
American Central Intelligence Agency and the Spanish secret service,"
Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi told a news conference.
Mohadi, whose country has been bitterly at odds in recent years with
Washington and former European colonial powers, said Equatorial Guinea's
police and army heads had gone along with the plot against President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
The CIA declined to comment on Zimbabwe's spying charge, but U.S.
officials denied the allegation.
"There was no U.S. interest or involvement in such a plot," said one U.S.
official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Spain also denied involvement in any plot in the former Spanish colony.
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "I have no information on
whether any security services were involved at all. But we certainly
wouldn't comment on our security services anyway."
"MILITARY MATERIAL"
Zimbawe state television showed a cargo of what it called "military
material" aboard the seized plane.
The gear included camouflage uniforms, sleeping bags, compasses and wire
cutters but no guns.
Mohadi said the men expected to pick up arms and ammunition from
state-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries, but did not elaborate.
Officials said the suspected mercenaries had travelled from South Africa
and the tiny Atlantic archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe, a former
Portuguese colony.
On Tuesday, Obiang, who seized power from his uncle in 1979, said foreign
countries and multinational companies had conspired to replace him with
an exiled politician living in Spain.
Severo Moto, who heads what he calls a government-in-exile in Madrid,
said on Wednesday he was not involved in any plot but Obiang had to go,
by force if needed.
"The people have the legitimacy to get rid of the tyrant," Moto told
Reuters in a telephone interview.
Officials said one of the suspected mercenaries had confessed to acting
for a Lebanese businessman close to Moto.
Moto was exiled to Spain for plotting a coup in his homeland, where
Frederick Forsyth wrote a classic 1970s tale of mercenary skullduggery,
"The Dogs of War".
Obiang thanked South Africa and Angola for warning him of a plot but did
not identify any of the countries or companies allegedly behind it.
Equatorial Guinea has been rounding up African foreigners since Saturday
amid tensions within Obiang's clan, dominant in a nation of just half a
million.
The seized plane's operator, based in Britain's Channel Islands, said it
had been flying security men from South Africa to guard mines in
Democratic Republic of Congo. It declined to name the customers it was
acting for.
Zimbabwe said it had also arrested a man identified as Simon Mann, a
former member of Britain's Special Air Service, and two others who had
been at Harare airport to meet the Boeing 727.
Obiang has been wooed by Western oil firms. Last year his country pumped
350,000 barrels per day, ranking third in sub-Saharan Africa behind
Nigeria and Angola.
The oil wealth has been unevenly shared, critics say. Human rights groups
accuse Obiang of jailing and torturing opponents.
Officials said Justice Minister Ruben Maye Nsue Mangue and Deputy Foreign
Affairs Minister Jose Esono had left to visit South Africa, Angola and
Zimbabwe, but gave no details - Reuters
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