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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (39139)	3/9/2004 3:40:46 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Among stories that the Zimbabweian mercenaries were "just mine guards", two more stories. First. Equatorial Guinea says 15 mercenaries arrested By Nick Tattersall DAKAR (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest oil producer, says it has arrested about 15 suspected mercenaries who it says were the advance party of a group seized by Zimbabwe at the weekend. The 15 people detained comprised white South Africans, black South Africans of Angolan origin, a German and others from Kazakhstan and Armenia, officials said on Tuesday. "Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here...and it was connected with that plane (seized) in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group," Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu said by telephone from the capital Malabo. Senior diplomats in Malabo said the group was linked to the men grounded in Harare and that the arrests in Equatorial Guinea on Monday evening had thwarted a plot to seize power. "There was an attempted coup which was foiled. It was intense yesterday evening but now the tension has dropped. The town is calm," one diplomat said. The leader of the group detained had been presented to some members of the diplomatic community on Tuesday. "The situation on the ground is under control. There seems to be a big military presence out on the street, but there is no unrest as far as we know," another diplomat said. Zimbabwe seized a cargo plane on Sunday it said was carrying 64 suspected mercenaries and military gear. The plane's operator said the men were on a civil mission to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Equatorial Guinea launched a clampdown on illegal immigrants on Saturday amid growing tensions within President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's clan, whose members hold most top positions in the former Spanish colony. Residents said the swoop involved heavily armed troops. COUP SPECULATION There has been recent speculation among exiled opposition politicians living in Spain and some oil industry officials that a coup was in the offing in Equatorial Guinea. Obiang seized power from his uncle in 1979 and has been wooed by Nigeria and Western oil firms. Last year the country pumped 350,000 barrels per day, ranking third in sub-Saharan Africa behind Nigeria and Angola. The discovery of massive oil reserves has boosted the economy by as much as 70 percent a year but critics say the new found wealth has been far from evenly shared. Human rights groups have criticised Obiang's record, saying opposition politicians have been locked up and tortured. Nfuma said the suspected mercenaries arrived in the tiny nation, which borders Gabon and Cameroon, in December. He said one of the men had said the group was acting on behalf of Ely Calil, a Lebanese businessman close to Severo Moto, self-proclaimed president of a so-called Equatorial Guinean "government-in-exile" in Spain. Sources close to Calil, authorised to speak to Reuters, said on Tuesday he denied involvement and believed he was being made a scapegoat because of his friendship with Moto. Moto was arrested in 1997 in Angola on suspicion of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea and expelled to Spain. Moto told Reuters on Tuesday that he was committed to peaceful change in his country and that he believed the arrests were an attempt to whip up fear ahead of legislative elections next month. reuters.co.uk lurqer