The mystery grows surrounding the US-registered Boeing 727/100 carrying war material and 64 presumed mercenaries of various nationalities, impounded by the Zimbabwean authorities in the capital Harare on Sunday. Pending information from Harare concerning its investigation into the episode, different - and sometimes contrasting - declarations have been arriving from other countries. The information minister of Equatorial Guinea has confirmed the hypothesis linking the plane and its cargo with recent rumours of preparations for a presumed coup underway in the capital Malabo with the aim of overthrowing Theodore Obiang, who has led the country since 1968. "Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here in Equatorial Guinea and it was connected with that plane in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group," Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu told 'Reuters'. According to the information released by the government of Malabo, the presumed mercenaries include several white South Africans, South Africans of Angolan origin, a German national and men from Kazakhstan and Armenia. A few hours ago, the South African secret services (the sequestered plane took off from a small airport north of Pretoria) announced that the plane was destined for the tiny oil-rich former Spanish colony, according to the information in their possession. However, in the afternoon Charles Burrow, a high-ranking representative of Logo Logistics Ltd, the African company that allegedly purchased the plane from 'Dodson Aviation Incorporated', based in Ottawa, Kansas (US), just a week ago, said that the aircraft had been hired by a group of men with military experience destined for eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to guarantee the security of an unspecified mine. Pending further statements and the decision by Harare to break its silence and disclose the details of its investigation, this episode is emblematic of the mysterious nature of the international network supporting modern-day soldiers of fortune. For now, the only certainty to have emerged from the episode is that everyone considers the presence of mercenaries in at least two African countries (Equatorial Guinea and ex Zaire) to be a fact needing no disclaimer.[LC]

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