Zimbabwe said 67 presumed mercenaries arrested after the seizure of a suspect plane could face the death penalty, charging they were due to join coup plotters in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea in a conspiracy backed by Britain, Spain and the United States.
Harare claimed they had planned to go on from west Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to hand over weapons to rebels in mineral-rich Katanga province.
Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge told a gathering of diplomats that those arrested in Harare -- 64 men aboard the Boeing 727-100, mostly from South Africa, Namibia and Angola, and three who came to meet them -- "are going to face the severest punishment available in our statutes, including capital punishment".
Harare claimed they had planned to go on from west Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to hand over weapons to rebels in mineral-rich Katanga province.
Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge told a gathering of diplomats that those arrested in Harare -- 64 men aboard the Boeing 727-100, mostly from South Africa, Namibia and Angola, and three who came to meet them -- "are going to face the severest punishment available in our statutes, including capital punishment".
