Zimbabwe has threatened to execute some 60 suspected mercenaries detained this week and accused US, 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 yesterday "enemy powers" and multinational companies had been plotting against the small oil-producing central African state.
Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge
The two countries, some 2,000 miles apart, have put their security forces on high alert since Zimbabwe seized a Boeing 727 carrying about 60 men, most of them South Africans, Angolans and Namibians, both white and black, on 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 said.
"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 said..
Mr 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 US officials denied the allegation. Spain and Britain also denied involvement in any plot in the former Spanish colony.
Zimbawe state television showed a cargo of what it called "military material" aboard the seized plane. The gear included camouflage uniforms, sleeping bags, compasses and wire cutters but no guns.
On Tuesday, Mr Obiang, who seized power from his uncle in 1979, said foreign countries and multinational companies had conspired to replace him with an exiled politician living in Spain.
Mr Severo Moto, who heads what he calls a government-in-exile in Madrid, said yesterday he was not involved in any plot but Mr Obiang had to go, by force if needed. "The people have the legitimacy to get rid of the tyrant," he said. Mr Moto was exiled to Spain for plotting a coup in his homeland.
The seized plane's operator, based in Britain's Channel Islands, said it 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.
Mr Obiang has been wooed by 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 Mr Obiang of jailing and torturing opponents.