Zimbabwe Says Western Agencies Aided 'Mercenaries'

[bemildred]

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe said Wednesday U.S.,
British and Spanish spy agencies helped dozens of suspected
mercenaries detained this week in Harare in a plot against Equatorial
Guinea's government.

"They were aided by the British secret service, that is MI6, .... American
Central Intelligence Agency and the Spanish secret service,"
Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi told a news
conference, reading from a prepared statement.

He said the heads of the police and army in the tiny but oil-rich central
African nation of Equatorial Guinea had gone along with the plot
against the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

"The Western intelligence services persuaded Equatorial Guinea's service chiefs not to put up
any resistance, but to cooperate with the coup plotters," Mohadi said.

Reuters

[BadGimp]

1. WTF is going on here?

Can one of our more enlightened DUers provide some rational context here?

please...

This is starting to take on an ominous tone. Are we in a time warp?

thx

[bemildred]

2. There have been quite a few threads on this.

This one has lots in it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=409859&mesg_id=409859

[seemslikeadream]

4. You might want to read this

very long but very interesting.
http://www.zwnews.com/warbusiness.doc

one tiny snip:

In April 2001, an MPRI representative met with the Pentagon’s regional director for Central Africa to discuss the company’s hopes of winning the contract to train Equatorial Guinea’s forces. “They may need our help or moral support,” Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski wrote in a memo on the meeting, obtained by ICIJ under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. She quoted the MPRI representative as saying that Equatorial Guinea was “the Kuwait of the Gulf of Guinea” and, in a briefing paper three months later, advanced that characterization to “a possible ‘Kuwait of Africa’ with huge oil reserves” that was “US-friendly for both investment and security reasons.” Kwiatkowski also noted in her April memo that the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with Obiang when he visited Washington early in 2001 was an assistant secretary of agriculture – that after French President Jacques Chirac had spared time to meet with him.

Despite concerns about Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record, Obiang’s currency rose dramatically after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. When he visited the United States as it marked the first anniversary of the attacks, Obiang was among 10 African leaders to meet with President George Bush for talks on the prospect of war with Iraq and peace and development on the African continent.

[zonmoy]

5. Nope

just the same old dirty tricks by the same old evil cabal.

[Virginian]

3. Is there any chance

The occupants of the plane were "only" poachers?

It seems strange that people would be on an undercover mission and not be able to get lost in a crowd.

[AP]

7. It seems that SA was running counterintelligence on them.

Africa is getting its act together as struggles to move beyond the post-colonialism it's currently mired in. Catching these people is a sign of a new age for Africa -- governments are cooperating to beat back the fascists and the imperialists like they haven't been able to do since Ethiopa defeated Italy in a battle in 1898, the name of which slips my mind.

[Soloflecks]

6. Look back at what Wolfowitz said in Feb.:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200402120204.html

U.S. worldwide commitments "have grown even more global in scope since the terrible attacks of September 11th and the global war on terrorism which occupies so much of our attention," Wolfowitz explained. "But despite our commitments elsewhere, African nations should have no doubt about the importance my country attaches to Africa."

There are many reasons for this, the U.S. official said, "including humanitarian ones, but we also as a country need to view Africa from a perspective of security -- both that our relationships with Africa can contribute to security on the continent and that security in Africa can contribute to security in the United States.

[UpInArms]

8. related article: Africa coup 'plotters' could face execution

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/11/wmerc11.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/03/11/ixportal.html

Zimbabwe yesterday accused Britain, the United States and Spain of plotting a coup in the oil-rich African nation of Equatorial Guinea and threatened 67 alleged mercenaries arrested at Harare airport with the death penalty.

Kembo Mohadi, Zimbabwe's home affairs minister, claimed that Simon Mann, the British leader of the group and a former member of the SAS, confessed under police questioning to a plan to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.

The leader of the small west African state was in no doubt yesterday that the arrested men were preparing to oust him and said President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa had warned him that mercenaries were heading to his country.

The allegation by Zimbabwe promises to further poison relations between Britain and Zimbabwe and raises the possibility of a trial of Mr Mann and his associates which will include colourful claims of coups, plots and mercenaries.

...more...

The Telegraph is far from a preferred source, but this seemed to name names and give detail.

[keithyboy]

9. This is the post that forced me to sign up with DU

I just simply cannot believe that Americans would stand by and allow the evil people running our government get away with this. It is unbelievable! I am so sad about what our nation has become. It's like reading a horror novel. Will average Americans ever wake up to understand that their silence is giving support to an American regime as evil as any ever in history...including the Nazis? This stuff is just coming to light now as more and more small nations are beefing up their own security and as a result of our breaking faith with the rest of the world over the lies of the Iraq war but this is really what we have been doing since Bush came into office. Other administrations may have been highly influenced in this direction but were able to withstand the power and influence of the military-industrial-complex to some degree. They tried to push Clinton in this direction (PNAC) and became disenchanted with him because he would not go along; hence all the smear campaigns against him. But the PNACers have found a willing partner in the Bush regime. I am absolutely horrified about this mercernary incident and even more horrified because the media seems to be doing a good job of keeping citizens ignorant of it.

I'm ready to joing the next anti-war, anti-Bush-regime march whenever and wherever it takes place!!!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Welcome to DU!

The media has done a poor job of covering all the coups this admin has been up to including in Venezeula...glad to have you on board..at least now you won't feel alone in recognizing this! :hi:

[keithyboy]

11. Thanks for the welcome.

I monitor the Republican boards daily but have never posted there. This latest incident has caused me to take up residence on two of their boards and I feel it is my duty to report the unreported news to them. They can smear me all they want to but I will continue to post the unreported news until I am barred from posting.