Zim: Brits, Spain, US to blame

2004-03-10 20:24

Harare - The British, Spanish and US secret services were all involved in a bid to topple Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Zimbabwean Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi declared on Wednesday.

Mohadi told a press conference that Simon Mann, one of three men detained after going to meet 64 presumed mercenaries aboard a Boeing 727-100 which landed at Harare International Airport on Sunday, "has been co-operating and has revealed that they were aided by the British secret service (MI6), the American Central Intelligence Agency and the Spanish secret service".

"The western intelligence services persuaded the Equatorial Guinea service chiefs, that is the head of the police force and the commander of the army, not to put up any resistance, but to co-operate with the coup plotters," he said.

Mohadi said the two men had been promised cabinet posts in the new government, which was apparently due to be headed by Severo Moto Nsa, who heads a government in exile in Spain, the former colonial ruler of the tiny oil rich state in the Gulf of Guinea.

A man presented as South African Nick du Toit, the leader of 15 alleged mercenaries arrested in Equatorial Guinea, said on national television on Wednesday their mission was to abduct Obiang and force him into exile.

- AFP