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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PartyTime who wrote (5907)	3/10/2004 6:57:49 PM
From: John Sladek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

OT (Probably): Zimbabwe Says US, UK, Spain Behind 'Mercenary' Plot Wed Mar 10, 2004 01:14 PM ET By Cris Chinaka and David Clarke HARARE, Zimbabwe/DAKAR, Senegal (Reuters) - Zimbabwe threatened on Wednesday 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 "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 detained a Boeing 727 carrying about 60 men, most of them South Africans, Angolans and Namibians, both white and black, 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 a news briefing. "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 " Zimbabwe state television showed a cargo of what it called "military material" aboard the plane, seized Sunday after flying into Harare from South Africa. The gear included camouflage uniforms, sleeping bags, compasses and wire cutters but no guns. Officials said the suspects were expected in court on Wednesday or Thursday. Obiang said in a speech late Tuesday foreign countries had conspired to overthrow him and replace him with an exiled politician living in Spain. "In the course of questioning, we have found that they were financed by enemy powers, by multinational companies, by countries that do not love us," Obiang said on state radio and television. Obiang, who did not identify any of the countries or companies, thanked South Africa and Angola for warning him of a plot attempt. The plane's operator, based in Britain's Channel Islands, said the seized aircraft, sold by a firm in the United States just a week ago, 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. Asked about Equatorial Guinea's plot accusation, Logo Logistics Ltd senior executive Charles Burrows said on Tuesday: "I haven't the foggiest idea of what they're talking about." Zimbabwe said it had also arrested a man identified as Simon Mann, a former member of the Britain's Special Air Service, and two others who had been at Harare airport to meet the Boeing 727 when it landed Sunday. 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. Obiang seized power from his uncle in 1979 and has been wooed by Nigeria and 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. Government officials said one of the suspected mercenaries had confessed to acting for a Lebanese businessman close to Severo Moto, president of a self-styled "government-in-exile." 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." aljazeerah.info