Equatorial Guinea’s government says that it has thwarted an attempted coup, international media reported Wednesday.

EG thwarts attempted coup: report

MALABO, January 4, 2018 – Equatorial Guinea’s government says that it has thwarted an attempted coup, international media reported Wednesday.

According to government authorities, in late December, more than 30 men from neighbouring countries were found with weapons including rifles and rocket launchers, and subsequently arrested.

Security minister Nicholas Obama Nchama said that Cameroonian security services had aided state forces in blocking the coup, which was allegedly sponsored by unnamed opposition groups. “Mercenaries […] were recruited by Equatorial Guinean militants from certain radical opposition parties with the support of certain powers,” the minister said in a public statement.

State television reported that clashes broke out on Wednesday near the country’s border with Cameroon and that security forces had shot one mercenary and dispersed other combatants with gunfire.

Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema is Africa’s longest-serving, stepping into the role in 1979 when he ousted his uncle from power. Often accused of corruption, Obiang was again elected to a seven-year term in 2016.

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