Equatorial Guinea says it thwarted ‘coup’

MALABO: The West African state of Equatorial Guinea said Wednesday it had thwarted “a coup” against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Africa’s longest-serving leader, that had allegedly been mounted by foreign mercenaries recruited by his political opponents. Sources told AFP that the country’s ambassador to Chad had been arrested and was being held in a military camp. In a statement read on public radio, Security Minister Nicolas Obama Nchama said an attempted coup took place on December 24. “A group of Chadian, Sudanese and Centrafricans [citizens of the Central African Republic] infiltrated Kye Ossi, Ebibeyin, Mongomo, Bata and Malabo to attack the head of state, was in the Koete Mongomo presidential palace for the year-end holiday,” he said. The “mercenaries... were recruited by Equatorial Guinean militants from certain radical opposition parties with the support of certain powers,” the minister said. The plot had been prevented thanks to an operation carried out “in collaboration with the Cameroon security services”, he said.