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National security minister fired after EGuinea attack: radio

Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Photo courtesy of AFP.
by Staff Writers
Malabo (AFP) Feb 25, 2009
Equatorial Guinea's national security minister and three high level security officials have been fired a week after an aborted attack on the presidential palace, national radio reported Wednesday.

The presidential decrees, dated Tuesday and read on the radio, did not elaborate on the firings beyond the need for a "better functioning" of government services.

Those fired included national security minister Manuel Nguema Mba, who is a general and also uncle to the country's president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, along with three other generals.

The government has also banned "flying boats" or amphibious aircraft from its waters following an attack on Obiang Nguema's palace by sea-borne assailants, the radio reported.

The boats coming from outside the tiny west African country are forbidden to circulate in its waters or land on its territory "because of their complicity in transporting mercenaries," according to a defence ministry order.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which several of the assailants and one member of the armed forces were reportedly killed. Malabo initially blamed Nigerian rebels.

On Friday, Obiang Nguema, who came to power in 1979 when he toppled and executed his uncle in a coup, lambasted "internal enemies" that he claimed supported the operation.

Fifteen alleged assailants have been arrested, the radio reported, while several others escaped.

The country's navy has found the sunken boat allegedly belonging to the Nigerian rebel group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), but no bodies were on board, the radio said. MEND has denied any involvement in the attack.

Equatorial Guinea, the continent's third-biggest oil exporter, has a history of coups.

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Rebels storm north Central African town
Bangui (AFP) Feb 24, 2009
Rebels have carried out a weekend assault on the town of Batafango in the northern Central African Republic, stealing arms and looting buildings and relief organisations, the government and army said Tuesday.







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