Zimbabwe said today it will charge dozens of mercenary suspects with trying to destabilise a sovereign state and referred to a purported plot to stage a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
Zimbabwe detained more than 60 men after their Boeing 727 was seized in Harare on Sunday, and Equatorial Guinea detained 15 more who it said were an advance party. Both groups include South Africans.
"The charges are quite clear . . . they include destabilising an independent and sovereign government and our statutes, and the AU (African Union) forbid that," Zimbabwean Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said after President Robert Mugabe met a visiting delegation from Equatorial Guinea.
Asked whether the suspects were co-operating with the investigation, Mr Mohadi said: "They are talking". Zimbabwe's foreign minister has said the men could face a possible death penalty.
A lawyer hired by a South African firm to represent the group was expected to meet them later in the day but Mr Mohadi said it was unlikely they would appear in court today.