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 doesnât 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."
"Theyâll get a speedy trial and a even speedier execution."
South Africaâs 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 Guineaâs 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 planeâs operator, based in Britainâs 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 havenât the foggiest idea of what theyâre talking about."
"Theyâre 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 Britainâs 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 Obiangâs clan, dominant in a nation of just half a million that is one of Africaâs 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.
Doesnât 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."
Iâm sure the confession wasnât 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. 
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