Tiassa
03-11-04, 07:54 PM
UK accused of Equatorial Guinea plot
Some news stories ... some news stories just can't help but catch the eye. Some, despite grim content, evoke a smile, or even a laugh. I'm unsure what to think of a recent Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1166958,00.html) story in which Zimbabwean Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi has accused Britain, Spain, and the United States of plotting to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.
God Works in Mysterious Ways
Part of what makes the whole thing difficult to take with a straight face is Equatorial Guinea itself. The former Spanish colony, which achieved independence in 1968, is ruled by a twenty-five year junta led by President Obiang Nguem Mbasogo, who was recently proclaimed to be God, according to a presidential aide on state-owned radio last year. (See BBC (http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=26298))
Re-elected almost unanimously in 2002, the President-God rules a nation of 510,000 who read no Guinean newspapers, and possesses proven oil reserves worth 1.1 billion barrels. (See U.S. Dept. of Energy (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/eqguinea.html))
My first thought, on reading Rory Carroll's Guardian story, was that God apparently didn't see this one coming. And then it occurred to me that He might have acted through his Zimbabwean extension, though His godliness might be limited only to Equatorial Guinea, itself.
Perhaps God works in mysterious ways.
Grievous or Ridiculous?The home affairs minister, Kembo Mohadi, accused Britain, the US and Spain of conspiring to take over the oil-rich west African nation with the help of the alleged soldiers of fortune intercepted in transit at Zimbabwe's international airport.
The Zimbabwean authorities cited the presence of a former SAS officer, Simon Mann, to portray the bizarre affair as proof that MI6 was involved with the US-registered Boeing 727-100 which was seized on Sunday night.
The men arrested were mostly former soldiers from South African's apartheid-era Buffalo Battalion, based in Namibia, a diplomatic source said, and comprised 20 South Africans, 18 Namibians, 23 Angolans, a Zimbabwean travelling on a South African passport and two men from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr Mann, who left the British army several years ago, is based in Cape Town and believed to hold a South African passport. Bolt cutters, uniforms, a dinghy and other equipment were found on board. A British company, Logo Logistics, claimed yesterday it had hired the men and that they were en route to the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard mines and that the seizure was all a "dreadful misunderstanding".
But for the Zimbabwean authorities, who have long accused the US and Britain of trying to destabilise President Robert Mugabe, the seizure was a public relations bonanza.
The government of Equatorial Guinea, oil-rich and accused by critics of being despotic, arrested 15 men on Tuesday which it said were an advance guard.
The former Spanish colony appeared to coordinate yesterday's statements with Harare which added the Spanish intelligence services to its list of malefactors. (Carroll (http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1166958,00.html))
The charge sounds at first to be ridiculous; coming from the governments of God and the Black Hitler. Nonetheless, it's a grievous one.
And that's where this story makes for compelling discussion. One can't cry wolf like this, can't possibly call down the Circus From On High and expect to emerge unscathed. This is the sort of thing that serves nobody. To me, it's inconceivable that the whole Iraqi Bush Adventure could be a cover operation to distract from the real bonanza in Equatorial Guinea.
History, a tired maiden marked by the grace of a survivor, whispers seductively: It's not that ridiculous.
My Lai was absurd when the story first surfaced; the 2000 election in Florida focuses on hanging chads; removing Iraq from the list of terrorist-sponsor states in order to support Saddam Hussein's war with Iraq was in American national interest; overthrowing an elected Iranian prime minister in favor of a despotic Shah was a good idea; the Emancipation Proclamation was about liberating black slaves; torturing people and then burning them at the stake in the name of God was merciful . . . . History is full of bizarre moments. Fruit companies in Central America; drugs for guns for hostages, or something approximately like that. Nuclear brinkmanship, Philippine dictator, Haymarket Martyrs. The OJ Simpson verdict?!
Whatever the story really is, it should prove somewhat entertaining in that morbid world-politik genre.
There's so much oil in Iraq ... I look at Equatorial Guinea and wonder what the hell we'd do with a measly 1.1 billion barrels. Spain or Britian might have some use for it, but not much. The US might get a whole 56 days out of that quantity, according to 2002 estimates. (See NationMaster (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_oil_con))
If you're Equatorial Guinea, 1.1 billion barrels is a lot of oil. But let's be serious for a moment ... no, really. Okay, I admit, it's hard to be.
So ... presented for your amusement, I guess.
Notes:
• Carroll, Rory. "UK Accused of mercenaries plot." Guardian Unlimited, March 11, 2004. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1166958,00.html
• BBC. "Equatorial Guinea's 'God'." July 26, 2003. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3098007.stm
• U.S. Dept. of Energy. "Equatorial Guinea Country Analysis Brief." September, 2003. See http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/eqguinea.html
• NationMaster. "Map & Graph: Energy: Top 100 Oil Consumption." See http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_oil_con
See Also:
• Agence France Presse. "Mugabe slammed for Hitler speech." March 25, 2003. See http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/222165.htm
• U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. "Equatorial Guinea." December, 2003. See http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ek.html
Some news stories ... some news stories just can't help but catch the eye. Some, despite grim content, evoke a smile, or even a laugh. I'm unsure what to think of a recent Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1166958,00.html) story in which Zimbabwean Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi has accused Britain, Spain, and the United States of plotting to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.
God Works in Mysterious Ways
Part of what makes the whole thing difficult to take with a straight face is Equatorial Guinea itself. The former Spanish colony, which achieved independence in 1968, is ruled by a twenty-five year junta led by President Obiang Nguem Mbasogo, who was recently proclaimed to be God, according to a presidential aide on state-owned radio last year. (See BBC (http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=26298))
Re-elected almost unanimously in 2002, the President-God rules a nation of 510,000 who read no Guinean newspapers, and possesses proven oil reserves worth 1.1 billion barrels. (See U.S. Dept. of Energy (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/eqguinea.html))
My first thought, on reading Rory Carroll's Guardian story, was that God apparently didn't see this one coming. And then it occurred to me that He might have acted through his Zimbabwean extension, though His godliness might be limited only to Equatorial Guinea, itself.
Perhaps God works in mysterious ways.
Grievous or Ridiculous?The home affairs minister, Kembo Mohadi, accused Britain, the US and Spain of conspiring to take over the oil-rich west African nation with the help of the alleged soldiers of fortune intercepted in transit at Zimbabwe's international airport.
The Zimbabwean authorities cited the presence of a former SAS officer, Simon Mann, to portray the bizarre affair as proof that MI6 was involved with the US-registered Boeing 727-100 which was seized on Sunday night.
The men arrested were mostly former soldiers from South African's apartheid-era Buffalo Battalion, based in Namibia, a diplomatic source said, and comprised 20 South Africans, 18 Namibians, 23 Angolans, a Zimbabwean travelling on a South African passport and two men from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr Mann, who left the British army several years ago, is based in Cape Town and believed to hold a South African passport. Bolt cutters, uniforms, a dinghy and other equipment were found on board. A British company, Logo Logistics, claimed yesterday it had hired the men and that they were en route to the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard mines and that the seizure was all a "dreadful misunderstanding".
But for the Zimbabwean authorities, who have long accused the US and Britain of trying to destabilise President Robert Mugabe, the seizure was a public relations bonanza.
The government of Equatorial Guinea, oil-rich and accused by critics of being despotic, arrested 15 men on Tuesday which it said were an advance guard.
The former Spanish colony appeared to coordinate yesterday's statements with Harare which added the Spanish intelligence services to its list of malefactors. (Carroll (http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1166958,00.html))
The charge sounds at first to be ridiculous; coming from the governments of God and the Black Hitler. Nonetheless, it's a grievous one.
And that's where this story makes for compelling discussion. One can't cry wolf like this, can't possibly call down the Circus From On High and expect to emerge unscathed. This is the sort of thing that serves nobody. To me, it's inconceivable that the whole Iraqi Bush Adventure could be a cover operation to distract from the real bonanza in Equatorial Guinea.
History, a tired maiden marked by the grace of a survivor, whispers seductively: It's not that ridiculous.
My Lai was absurd when the story first surfaced; the 2000 election in Florida focuses on hanging chads; removing Iraq from the list of terrorist-sponsor states in order to support Saddam Hussein's war with Iraq was in American national interest; overthrowing an elected Iranian prime minister in favor of a despotic Shah was a good idea; the Emancipation Proclamation was about liberating black slaves; torturing people and then burning them at the stake in the name of God was merciful . . . . History is full of bizarre moments. Fruit companies in Central America; drugs for guns for hostages, or something approximately like that. Nuclear brinkmanship, Philippine dictator, Haymarket Martyrs. The OJ Simpson verdict?!
Whatever the story really is, it should prove somewhat entertaining in that morbid world-politik genre.
There's so much oil in Iraq ... I look at Equatorial Guinea and wonder what the hell we'd do with a measly 1.1 billion barrels. Spain or Britian might have some use for it, but not much. The US might get a whole 56 days out of that quantity, according to 2002 estimates. (See NationMaster (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_oil_con))
If you're Equatorial Guinea, 1.1 billion barrels is a lot of oil. But let's be serious for a moment ... no, really. Okay, I admit, it's hard to be.
So ... presented for your amusement, I guess.
Notes:
• Carroll, Rory. "UK Accused of mercenaries plot." Guardian Unlimited, March 11, 2004. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1166958,00.html
• BBC. "Equatorial Guinea's 'God'." July 26, 2003. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3098007.stm
• U.S. Dept. of Energy. "Equatorial Guinea Country Analysis Brief." September, 2003. See http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/eqguinea.html
• NationMaster. "Map & Graph: Energy: Top 100 Oil Consumption." See http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_oil_con
See Also:
• Agence France Presse. "Mugabe slammed for Hitler speech." March 25, 2003. See http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/222165.htm
• U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. "Equatorial Guinea." December, 2003. See http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ek.html