The West African state of Equatorial Guinea said Wednesday it had thwarted “a coup” in late December mounted by mercenaries who sought to attack President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Africa’s longest-serving leader.<\/p>\n
In a statement read on public radio, Security Minister Nicolas Obama Nchama said: “Mercenaries… were recruited by Equatorial Guinean militants from certain radical opposition parties with the support of certain powers.”<\/p>\n
The plot had been prevented thanks to an operation carried out “in collaboration with the Cameroon security services”, he said.<\/p>\n
The announcement came after Cameroon on December 27 arrested 38 heavily-armed men on the border with the tiny state.<\/p>\n
Two days later, Equitorial Guinea’s ambassador to France, Miguel Oyono Ndong Mifumu, referred to the incident as an “invasion and destabilisation attempt”.<\/p>\n
The suspects, taken into custody in a bus on the border, had rocket launchers, rifles and a stockpile of ammunition, according to his office.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the 75-year-old Obiang said “a war” was being prepared against his regime, “because they say I have spent a lot of time in power”.<\/p>\n
Obiang has been president for more than 38 years.<\/p>\n
He took power in a coup on August 3, 1979, ousting his own uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, who was shot by firing squad. He was re-elected to a fifth seven-year term in 2016.<\/p>\n
Equatorial Guinea is one of sub-Sahara’s biggest oil producers but a large proportion of its 1.2 million population still lives in poverty.<\/p>\n
In 2004, mercenaries attempted to overthrow Obiang in a coup thought to be largely funded by British financiers.<\/p>\n
Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was reportedly involved in the funding and was convicted and fined in South Africa.<\/p>\n
In October last year, a French court handed down a three-year suspended jail term to Obiang’s son, Teodorin, who is also vice president, after convicting him of siphoning off public money to fund a jet-set lifestyle in Paris.<\/p>\n
He was accused of spending more than 1,000 times his official annual salary on a six-storey mansion in a posh part of the French capital, a fleet of fast cars and artworks, among other assets.<\/p>\n
His lawyers said they would appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: Daily Mail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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