Mugabe: Mercenaries on agenda
2004-11-05 22:06
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe left on Friday for Equatorial Guinea on a three-day visit that would include talks with his counterpart on the issue of mercenaries that Harare has imprisoned, state radio reported.
Mugabe will meet the oil-rich west African nation's leader, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and "discuss the issue of mercenaries, jailed in Harare and (other) bilateral issues," said the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).
Sixty-eight suspected mercenaries, including former British soldier Simon Mann, began serving jail sentences on September 10 in Zimbabwe on various convictions related to an alleged plot to topple Obiang.
But, analysts and observers who followed the six-week trial of the men said the proceedings failed to shed light on the alleged plot and little hard evidence was introduced in court.
The trial of 19 of people, including 14 alleged mercenaries also accused of being involved in the plot and who are in prison in Equatorial Guinea, is expected to resume on November 26.
Eight South Africans, six Armenians and five Guineans, including a former deputy minister, went on trial in Malabo on August 23 for allegedly trying to topple Obiang, in power since 1979.
Mugabe is being accompanied by defence minister Sidney Sekeramaye.