HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Sixty-four suspected mercenaries allegedly hired to overthrow the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea will face charges in Zimbabwe, along with their three-man flight crew, the attorney general said Thursday. Attorney General Bharat Patel was quoted by state radio as saying the men, who were arrested Sunday when their aging Boeing 727 stopped at Harare International Airport, are expected to appear in court Friday or Saturday.
| Worse for wear, too, I bet. |
Patel said the men would be charged under Zimbabwe's aviation, firearms and immigration laws. Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge has said they could face the death penalty, but none of the charges mentioned by Patel is a capital offense.
| This is Bob-land, laws don't matter! |
Fifteen other alleged mercenaries were arrested in Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday, also on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. Zimbabwean Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said Wednesday that Equatorial Guinea's rebel leader, Severo Moto, had offered the group $1.8 million and oil rights for overthrowing President Teodoro Obiang Ngeuma. Mohadi claimed the CIA, together with British and Spanish intelligence agencies, had persuaded Equatorial Guinea's police and military chiefs to cooperate with the coup plotters by promising them Cabinet posts in the new government. The agencies also were supplying the plotters with communications equipment, he said.
Reporter: "How do you know they were plotting a coup?"
African leader: "'cause they're asking just like I did when I came to power!" |
A U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "the notion that the U.S. government is involved is uproariously funny absurd." South Africa's foreign minister met with an Equatorial Guinea delegation Thursday in Pretoria to discuss the issue. South Africans account for 20 of the 64 men detained in Zimbabwe, with most of the others being from Namibia and Angola. The South Africans, who include former members of the South African military, could also face anti-mercenary charges at home, South African President Thabo Mbeki said.
| The mercs should have stayed in bed. |
Details of the coup plot came from an alleged co-conspirator who was detained Sunday as he waited to meet the plane, Mohadi said. He has been identified as Simon "the Weasel" Mann, a British agent allegedly involved in efforts to buy weapons from Zimbabwe's state arms maker. Along with the plane, Zimbabwe authorities seized what they called "Outward Bound military materials" - including satellite telephones, radios, backpacks, hiking boots, bolt cutters and an inflatable raft. There were no reports of weapons on the plane.
| I've got everything except a sat phone and raft here at the house. Wonder if they want to arrest me? |
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