ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe threatened yesterday 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 "enemy powers" and multinational companies had been plotting against the small oil-producing central African state.
The two countries, 2,000 miles apart, have put their security forces on high alert since Zimbabwe detained a Boeing 727 carrying 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," Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Mr 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 Mr Kembo Mohadi told a news conference.
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: "There was no US interest or involvement in such a plot." 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."
Zimbawe state television showed a cargo of what it called "military material" aboard the aircraft, seized on 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 late yesterday or today.
Mr Obiang said 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," he said on state radio and television.
Mr Obiang, who did not identify any of the countries or companies, thanked South Africa and Angola for warning him of a plot attempt.
The aircraft's operator, based in Britain's Channel Islands, said the seized aircraft, sold by a firm in the US just a week ago, had been flying security men from South Africa to guard mines in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Asked about Equatorial Guinea's plot accusation, Logo Logistics Ltd senior executive Mr Charles Burrows said: "I haven't the foggiest idea of what they're talking about."