AI
Coup in the Offing in Equatorial Guinea.
Who is not involved in this one? -Am
Equatorial Guinea has a big oil discovery and now it has a big problem. An American registered plane filled with mercenaries supposedly sold only last week to a South African firm and operated by British based Logo Logistics was detained on its way to Equatorial Guinea.
There has been recent speculation among exiled opposition politicians living in Spain and some oil industry officials that a coup was in the offing in Equatorial Guinea.
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 discovery of massive oil reserves has boosted the economy by as much as 70 percent a year but critics say the new found wealth has been far from evenly shared.
www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=4775955
The plane, which reportedly took off from South Africa, is registered to a U.S. company, Dodson Aviation based in Kansas. But a Dodson spokesman says it sold the aircraft to a South African firm, last week. The operator of the plane, British based Logo Logistics, says the men were headed for the Democratic Republic of Congo to work as security guards at mines.
www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1C7BB416-16F9-4ACB-8216BC8D7DAF2A30
An initial check of US Federal Aviation Administration records showed N4610 to be registered to Kansas-based Dodson Aviation Inc., but a Dodson official said it sold the plane about a week ago to an African company called Logo Ltd.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane7.1519.html
The operator of the plane, Logo Logistics, said Tuesday that the men had been bound for the Democratic Republic of Congo to work as security guards on mines, and that the aircraft had only stopped in Zimbabwe to pick up mining equipment.
Charles Burrows, a senior executive at Logo Logistics, said that most of the people on board were South African and had military experience, but were on contract with four mining companies in Congo.
Burrows, whose company is registered in Britain's Channel Islands, denied any connection between the group detained in Harare and the people arrested in Equatorial Guinea.
http://www.iht.com/articles/509522.html
In Zimbabwe, 'mining equipment' is a euphemism for military hardware as it is the same tactic used by President Mugabe's government to cloak its heavy involvement in the DRC since war broke out.
His account appeared consistent with intelligence information indicating the plane was on its way to West Africa, perhaps headed for a threatening coup in Equatorial Guinea, a small former-Spanish colony wedged between Cameroon and Gabon.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane7.1519.html
In Zimbabwe, officials said that the detained plane was carrying "military materiel." State television footage of the plane's cargo showed sleeping bags, satellite phones, knives, bolt-cutters and camouflage uniforms, but no firearms.
http://www.iht.com/articles/509522.html
Equatorial Guinea says 15 mercenaries arrested
March 9, 2004 9:00 PM
By Nick Tattersall
DAKAR (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest oil producer, says it has arrested about 15 suspected mercenaries who it says were the advance party of a group seized by Zimbabwe at the weekend.
The 15 people detained comprised white South Africans, black South Africans of Angolan origin, a German and others from Kazakhstan and Armenia, officials said on Tuesday.
"Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here...and it was connected with that plane (seized) in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group," Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu said by telephone from the capital Malabo.
Senior diplomats in Malabo said the group was linked to the men grounded in Harare and that the arrests in Equatorial Guinea on Monday evening had thwarted a plot to seize power.
"There was an attempted coup which was foiled. It was intense yesterday evening but now the tension has dropped. The town is calm," one diplomat said.
The leader of the group detained had been presented to some members of the diplomatic community on Tuesday.
"The situation on the ground is under control. There seems to be a big military presence out on the street, but there is no unrest as far as we know," another diplomat said.
Zimbabwe seized a cargo plane on Sunday it said was carrying 64 suspected mercenaries and military gear.
The plane's operator said the men were on a civil mission to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Equatorial Guinea launched a clampdown on illegal immigrants on Saturday amid growing tensions within President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's clan, whose members hold most top positions in the former Spanish colony.
Residents said the swoop involved heavily armed troops.
COUP SPECULATION
There has been recent speculation among exiled opposition politicians living in Spain and some oil industry officials that a coup was in the offing in Equatorial Guinea.
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 discovery of massive oil reserves has boosted the economy by as much as 70 percent a year but critics say the new found wealth has been far from evenly shared.
Human rights groups have criticised Obiang's record, saying opposition politicians have been locked up and tortured.
Nfuma said the suspected mercenaries arrived in the tiny nation, which borders Gabon and Cameroon, in December.
He said one of the men had said the group was acting on behalf of Ely Calil, a Lebanese businessman close to Severo Moto, self-proclaimed president of a so-called Equatorial Guinean "government-in-exile" in Spain.
Sources close to Calil, authorised to speak to Reuters, said on Tuesday he denied involvement and believed he was being made a scapegoat because of his friendship with Moto.
Moto was arrested in 1997 in Angola on suspicion of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea and expelled to Spain.
Reuters
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=4775955
Reference:
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane7.1519.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/509522.html
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1C7BB416-16F9-4ACB-8216BC8D7DAF2A30
Who is not involved in this one? -Am
Equatorial Guinea has a big oil discovery and now it has a big problem. An American registered plane filled with mercenaries supposedly sold only last week to a South African firm and operated by British based Logo Logistics was detained on its way to Equatorial Guinea.
There has been recent speculation among exiled opposition politicians living in Spain and some oil industry officials that a coup was in the offing in Equatorial Guinea.
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 discovery of massive oil reserves has boosted the economy by as much as 70 percent a year but critics say the new found wealth has been far from evenly shared.
www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=4775955
The plane, which reportedly took off from South Africa, is registered to a U.S. company, Dodson Aviation based in Kansas. But a Dodson spokesman says it sold the aircraft to a South African firm, last week. The operator of the plane, British based Logo Logistics, says the men were headed for the Democratic Republic of Congo to work as security guards at mines.
www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1C7BB416-16F9-4ACB-8216BC8D7DAF2A30
An initial check of US Federal Aviation Administration records showed N4610 to be registered to Kansas-based Dodson Aviation Inc., but a Dodson official said it sold the plane about a week ago to an African company called Logo Ltd.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane7.1519.html
The operator of the plane, Logo Logistics, said Tuesday that the men had been bound for the Democratic Republic of Congo to work as security guards on mines, and that the aircraft had only stopped in Zimbabwe to pick up mining equipment.
Charles Burrows, a senior executive at Logo Logistics, said that most of the people on board were South African and had military experience, but were on contract with four mining companies in Congo.
Burrows, whose company is registered in Britain's Channel Islands, denied any connection between the group detained in Harare and the people arrested in Equatorial Guinea.
http://www.iht.com/articles/509522.html
In Zimbabwe, 'mining equipment' is a euphemism for military hardware as it is the same tactic used by President Mugabe's government to cloak its heavy involvement in the DRC since war broke out.
His account appeared consistent with intelligence information indicating the plane was on its way to West Africa, perhaps headed for a threatening coup in Equatorial Guinea, a small former-Spanish colony wedged between Cameroon and Gabon.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane7.1519.html
In Zimbabwe, officials said that the detained plane was carrying "military materiel." State television footage of the plane's cargo showed sleeping bags, satellite phones, knives, bolt-cutters and camouflage uniforms, but no firearms.
http://www.iht.com/articles/509522.html
Equatorial Guinea says 15 mercenaries arrested
March 9, 2004 9:00 PM
By Nick Tattersall
DAKAR (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest oil producer, says it has arrested about 15 suspected mercenaries who it says were the advance party of a group seized by Zimbabwe at the weekend.
The 15 people detained comprised white South Africans, black South Africans of Angolan origin, a German and others from Kazakhstan and Armenia, officials said on Tuesday.
"Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here...and it was connected with that plane (seized) in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group," Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu said by telephone from the capital Malabo.
Senior diplomats in Malabo said the group was linked to the men grounded in Harare and that the arrests in Equatorial Guinea on Monday evening had thwarted a plot to seize power.
"There was an attempted coup which was foiled. It was intense yesterday evening but now the tension has dropped. The town is calm," one diplomat said.
The leader of the group detained had been presented to some members of the diplomatic community on Tuesday.
"The situation on the ground is under control. There seems to be a big military presence out on the street, but there is no unrest as far as we know," another diplomat said.
Zimbabwe seized a cargo plane on Sunday it said was carrying 64 suspected mercenaries and military gear.
The plane's operator said the men were on a civil mission to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Equatorial Guinea launched a clampdown on illegal immigrants on Saturday amid growing tensions within President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's clan, whose members hold most top positions in the former Spanish colony.
Residents said the swoop involved heavily armed troops.
COUP SPECULATION
There has been recent speculation among exiled opposition politicians living in Spain and some oil industry officials that a coup was in the offing in Equatorial Guinea.
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 discovery of massive oil reserves has boosted the economy by as much as 70 percent a year but critics say the new found wealth has been far from evenly shared.
Human rights groups have criticised Obiang's record, saying opposition politicians have been locked up and tortured.
Nfuma said the suspected mercenaries arrived in the tiny nation, which borders Gabon and Cameroon, in December.
He said one of the men had said the group was acting on behalf of Ely Calil, a Lebanese businessman close to Severo Moto, self-proclaimed president of a so-called Equatorial Guinean "government-in-exile" in Spain.
Sources close to Calil, authorised to speak to Reuters, said on Tuesday he denied involvement and believed he was being made a scapegoat because of his friendship with Moto.
Moto was arrested in 1997 in Angola on suspicion of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea and expelled to Spain.
Reuters
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=4775955
Reference:
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane7.1519.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/509522.html
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1C7BB416-16F9-4ACB-8216BC8D7DAF2A30
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