Equatorial Guinea says arrests "mercenaries"

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09561496.htm

DAKAR, March 9 (Reuters) - Some 15 suspected mercenaries have been arrested in the tiny oil-rich West African nation of Equatorial Guinea after a widespread clampdown on foreign nationals, the government said on Tuesday.

"Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here in Equatorial Guinea and it was connected with that plane in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group," Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu told Reuters by telephone.

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[htuttle]

1. "in the tiny oil-rich West African nation of Equatorial Guinea"

Oil? Is that a fact?

And JUST the other day, the Pentagon was carping about al-Queda in Africa.

What a coincidence.

[bemildred]

3. Yeah, how about that?

The guy who runs the place is near certifiable, IIRC.
It's not that it would bother me much if he went down.
But they seem to have added one more to their string of
botched coups.

[wjittermoss]

2. Hey, we can just take the resources from any little Africans country

when we want it...no problem.

[Minstrel Boy]

4. "wiener countries"

That's what GHWB called them in an unguarded moment. Remember?

They have something America wants. Determining how to get it is what's called "statecraft."

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. 24 hours ago: alleged coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3542817.stm

Spain's La Razon newspaper reported that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema had been tipped off that there was a plan to depose him.
...
According to the paper, the government believed mercenaries had arrived in the country to support the coup attempt.
...
A BBC correspondent in the capital said the army, navy, police and paramilitary units have been involved to an unprecedented degree.

Equatorial Guinea is one of the most secretive and repressive states in Africa and reliable information often emerges very slowly from the country.

[SOS]

6. Despite torture and repression

Equatorial Guinea has been a favorite of the Bush Administration. Exxon/Mobil has the drilling rights.
If there was a coup attempt it must be a Bush/Exxon/Nguema family feud.

[bemildred]

7. That was my guess too, a disagreement about the division of spoils. nt