[Previous entry: "Istanbul blast amid Kurd tension"] [Next entry: "From Guatemala to Colombia: The Regional Integration of Gold and Bullets"]

04/01/2006:

"Mugabe eyes Equatorial Guinea oil"

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hopes to sign an agreement to import oil from Equatorial Guinea, Africa's third-largest producer.

Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema is visiting Zimbabwe two years after the authorities there helped foil a plot to oust him.

Zimbabwe is suffering chronic fuel shortages, the result of a foreign exchange crisis.

Mr Obiang said his country was ready to forge stronger links with Zimbabwe.

"I can assure you that you can always count on the support of the government and people of Equatorial Guinea to do their best," he said at a dinner hosted by Mr Mugabe.

Mr Mugabe himself accused western governments and media of vilifying Zimbabwe.

"The born-again democrats in London and Washington would like to hoodwink the world on the situation in Zimbabwe in the very same manner they have done on Iraq," he said.

Simon Mann, the British leader of the alleged coup plot against Mr Obiang, is still serving a jail sentence in Harare after the plane on which he was travelling landed there in 2004, on its way to Equatorial Guinea.
bbc.co.uk