Suspected coup plotters may be extradited

Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea are working on extraditing 70 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting to overthrow the west African country's president, the official Zimbabwean newspaper, The Herald, reported on Friday. The paper quoted Equatorial Guinea President Obiang Mbasogo, who was in Zimbabwe until Thursday, as saying that the two governments were examining technical aspects of extraditing the suspected mercenaries being held at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The 70 suspects, who include South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese, a Zimbabwean and a British national, were arrested on 7 March on board a plane that landed at Harare International airport. The men said they had been contracted to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but were subsequently charged with the violation of the Public Order and Security Act, the Firearms Act and the Immigration Act. The detainees have been linked to 15 suspected coup plotters arrested in Equatorial Guinea at the same time.