Zimbabwe says Western agencies aided "mercenaries"
HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's government Wednesday accused U.S., British and Spanish spy agencies of helping 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," said Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, reading a prepared statement at a news conference.
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.
He said the heads of the two services had been promised posts in a post-coup Cabinet as a reward.
The Zimbabwean government of President Robert Mugabe did not immediately offer any evidence to support its accusations of the involvement of Western intelligence agencies.
Mohadi said Zimbabwean authorities had obtained the information from Simon Mann, who was detained in Zimbabwe Sunday as he waited to meet a plane carrying 64 men who were held as suspected mercenaries.
Zimbabwe claims Mann is a former member of Britain's elite Special Air Services.
Zimbabwe's foreign affairs minister said Wednesday the suspected mercenaries could face the death penalty.
03/10/04 12:07 ET
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