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During the week ending March 7, 79 suspected mercenaries were detained -- 15 in Equatorial Guinea and 64 in Zimbabwe. There were leaks that the men were likely working in concert under a contract from the high-profile South African mercenary supplier Executive Outcomes in an effort to foment a coup in Equatorial Guinea.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's government has never been on solid footing, and as the 66-year-old president's health fails, internal maneuvering for a replacement has begun in earnest. Due to Equatorial Guinea's realized -- and potential -- oil wealth, there is no shortage of domestic and international players battling for control of the government. The resources that may have gone into hiring the world's premier mercenary supplier show that whoever was behind the apparent failed coup is set on overthrowing Obiang's shaky government.
The evidence for the coup attempt is complex and circumstantial. Coup warnings cropped up in Equatorial Guinea during the weekend of March 7. They were followed by a government crackdown on foreigners -- and rumblings from Obiang that multinational companies were out to get him.
On March 7, in Harare, Zimbabwe, a plane formerly registered to a U.S. corporation -- Dodson Aviation of Rantoul, Kan. -- was detained at the international airport along with its 64 passengers. It was quickly revealed by sources at Dodson that the plane recently had been sold to a South African mining concern. The 64 men were denounced as foreign mercenaries and taken to a Zimbabwean military base along with their plane and equipment.
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