| In a typical move of an African country blaming the West for all its problems, Equatorial Guinea accuses Western Multinational companies and Western Governments of attempting a coup...
Alleged mercenaries charged in Zimbabwe
Monday, March 15, 2004 Posted: 0039 GMT (0839 HKT)
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HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Sixty suspected mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe have been charged with immigration and firearms violations, their lawyer said Sunday.
The men were among 70 men detained last Sunday after authorities seized their plane in Harare and accused them of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea.
Lawyer Jonathan Samkange said there was no provision in Zimbabwe law to charge the men for plotting a coup against the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He said instead they were charged with other offenses.
"Sixty have been charged under the immigration and firearms act. The other 10 will be charged (Monday)," Samkange told Reuters.
Under Zimbabwe's immigration laws, the men can be held for two weeks before a court hearing.
The plane's operator says the group was due to provide legitimate mine security in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On Friday, Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said the suspects faced charges of trying to destabilize a sovereign state.
Earlier in the week Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said the group of mainly South Africans, Angolans and Namibians could face the death penalty.
But Samkange said Zimbabwe's laws, unlike neighboring South Africa, did not provide for the prosecution of suspects for mercenary acts intended to be performed outside the country.
"They can be extradited to South Africa but extradition is a political decision that has to be agreed between the two countries," Samkange said.
A South African newspaper Sunday published what it said were the names of the 70 suspects and also gave a breakdown of their nationalities, which varied from that given by the Zimbabwe authorities.
The government in Equatorial Guinea has arrested 15 men who officials said were part of a plot funded by foreign powers and multinational firms to put an exiled opposition politician living in Spain in power.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/03/14/mercenaries.plane.reut/index.html
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