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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| Zimbabwe Talks of Death Penalty for ’Mercenaries’ |
| 2004-03-10 |
| Zimbabwe Wednesday threatened to execute a band of "foreign mercenaries" detained in Harare, and Equatorial Guinea accused them of being part of a plot funded by "enemy powers" and multinationals. Sinister forces, evil plots and multinationals, Oh my! The angry rhetoric, in countries 2,000 miles apart, came after Zimbabwe detained a Boeing 727 carrying more than 60 men, most of them South Africans, Angolans and Namibians, both white and black, Sunday. Associates of the men insist they are innocent mine guards swept up in a bizarre misunderstanding. It doesn’t look like being innocent is gonna help them. "They are going to face the severest punishment available in our statutes, including capital punishment," Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge told a news briefing. "We will give them all the rights they are entitled to." "They’ll get a speedy trial and a even speedier execution." South Africa’s High Commissioner to Zimbabwe Jeremiah Ndou said the suspects were expected in court Wednesday or Thursday and would be assisted in finding lawyers. Mudenge said Zimbabwe had been in contact with the government of the oil-rich central African state of Equatorial Guinea, which Tuesday announced the arrest of 15 "foreign mercenaries" saying they were an advance party connected to the Harare group. Looks like they are fighting to see just who was going to be overthrown. Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo 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 in the speech, broadcast by state radio and television. That narrows it down. He thanked South Africa and Angola for warning him of the plot, but added: "There are other countries who knew about this attempt and did not contribute information. We will have to qualify them as enemies. Multinational firms operating here and outside who contributed to this operation are also enemy companies." He did not identify any of the countries or firms. Still making a list. The plane’s operator, based in Britain’s Channel Islands, insisted 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 the Democratic Republic of Congo. It declined to name the customers it was acting for. Hummm, yesterday it was a African firm. Asked about the accusation by Equatorial Guinea, Charles Burrows, a senior executive of Logo Logistics Ltd, said on Tuesday: "I haven’t the foggiest idea of what they’re talking about." "They’re nuts." Zimbabwe, bitterly at odds in recent years with the United States and old European colonial powers, said the plot involving the "mercenaries" had been an elaborate one. "Apparently this was not one mission... after the diversion in Equatorial Guinea they were going to the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)," Mudenge said. "First Guinea, then the Congo, tomorrow the world!" Zimbabwean authorities said they 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 the airport to meet the Boeing 727 when it landed in Harare Sunday. So there was someone to meet them. Bet Simon was being watched and when they saw the plane full of "guards", pushed the panic button. Equatorial Guinea has been rounding up African foreigners since Saturday amid tensions within President Obiang’s clan, dominant in a nation of just half a million that is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers. One senior foreign diplomat there said on Tuesday: "There was an attempted coup which was foiled. It was intense yesterday evening but now the tension has dropped. The town is calm." 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 oil wealth has been unevenly shared, critics say. Human rights groups accuse Obiang of jailing and torturing opponents. Doesn’t everyone? Government officials said the 15 suspects had arrived in December. One had confessed to acting for a Lebanese businessman close to Severo Moto, president of a self-styled "government-in-exile." I’m sure the confession wasn’t forced or anything. 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." Good book, has nothing to do with the story. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 Soooooooooo, Mr. Moto, we meet again... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-3-10 11:27:23 PM |
| #6 5:00 am Morning coffee 6:00 Board plane 9:00 Pick up arms n'stuff in Zimbabwe 11:00 Overthrowd Obiang government 13:00 Lunch 14:00 Afternoon nap 16:00 Run weapons to Congo 19:00 Dinner 22:00 Make love to your nubian queen 23:00 Sleep What a day this could have been! |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-3-10 10:03:03 PM |
| #5 I liked the end of "The Dogs of War" - where Chris Walken shoots the dickhead would-be dictator and hands the country to the doctor they pulled out of the hell-hole prison... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-3-10 5:26:35 PM |
| #4 Watched DOGS OF WAR a year ago and I couldn't take it seriously with Al Bundy being a tough Merc and all, guess selling shoes is what Mercs do when they retire. And where the hell is the WILD GEESE dvd? |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-3-10 1:58:04 PM |
| #3 Scene -- Ted Rall is sitting in his underwear in his small basement office/studio. While trolling on a right-wing warblogger site, he reads about "white" mercenaries being captured in Zimbabwe and the hamster in his brain starts churning away on its wheel. "Maybe it's a deadly new Fox (owned by right-winger Rupert Murdoch) reality show where the actors act out a scene or plotline from a famous novel. Come to think of it, maybe that's what happened on September 11, 2001 -- the jihadists were just acting out the Tom Clancy plot about crashing planes into buildings so that George Bush and the Taliban and Unocal and Enron could build a pipeline across Afghanistan. Maybe this whole "War on Terror" is really part of some vast right-wing plot to bring regime change to "foreign" countries whose "dark-skinned" leaders are disfavored by the West" he wonders as he adjusts his tinfoil hat. "I have to write a column about this to let people know what's going on. On second thought, maybe I'll write that column after checking out that boyzgonewild.com site . . . again. Oh yeah, it's going to be another long hard night, right Bruce, you studmuffin?" Fade to black. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-3-10 1:55:50 PM |
| #2 Damm, I may have been wrong: South African official sources said that Logo Logistics acquired a fishing concession in Equatorial Guinea and bought or hired fishing trawlers late last year. "Those guys had never caught a fish in their lives," one source said. "They were all ex-Special Forces." The trawlers were really to be used first to reconnoitre and then to transport mercenaries to oust the Government of unpopular President Obiang Nguema in a coup, the sources said. Though part of Equatorial Guinea is on the African mainland, its capital, Malabo, is on the island of Bioko and it appears a sea-borne coup was planned though it is not clear from what staging point. It is believed the real reason the aircraft had flown to Harare was to pick up the leader and some members of the team. It really is a replay of "The Dogs of War". Small cadre of white mercs leading African troops in a sea-borne landing to overthrow a unpopular leader. They found rubber rafts on the plane, remember? If they followed the book, the guns are on a fishing trawler somewhere, waiting for them. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-3-10 1:10:27 PM |
| #1 Bob better be careful with these guys. After all, the US is being thoroughly drubbed for allowing the death in custody of a terrorist convicted and sentenced in Italy of participating in the execution of an American. These white guys may be criminals but they still deserve the full protection of AI and other human rights group that protest every time Rumsfeld, Ashcroft or Chainey detains an innocent murderer. Is it possible that Bob is just using strong-arm tactics in his negotiations with this group of liquidators. [Scene 1 - a dark prison cell] "Sven ... Sven, now the dummy says he won't release us until we agree to bring him the heads of George Bush, Tony Blair and some guy named Afredo Garcia. Listen Carl, tell him we'll set a large explosive charges in Paris and Washington. But Sven, how will we do that? Carl, don't worry. I don't think he knows there is a Paris in Texas. Be sure not to say Washington DC. Just say Washington. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-10 11:52:49 AM |