MR. MOTO IS SO SORRY:

Plot to overthrow 'cannibal' president (AFP, 12mar04)

A conspiracy to abduct the long-serving president of the small oil-rich west African nation of Equatorial Guinea was revealed on national television yesterday by the alleged leader of a group of mercenaries.

"It wasn't a question of taking the life of the head of state, but of spiriting him away, taking him to Spain and forcing him into exile and then of immediately installing the government-in-exile of Severo Moto Nsa," said the man, named as South African Nick du Toit, 48.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who came to power in a 1979 coup in which he had his uncle, former president Francisco Macias Nguema, executed, announced the arrest of 15 mercenaries on Tuesday, saying they were plotting to overthrow him. [...]

Mr Moto denied any involvement in the plot and claimed on Spanish radio that Mr Obiang was an "authentic cannibal" who "systematically eats his political rivals".

"A while back he paid millions to those they call marabou (sorcerers) to tell him if his power-base was safe. They told him that to keep his grip on power he had to kill people close to him," Mr Moto said. "Obiang wants me to go back to Guinea and eat my testicles. That's clear."

We're thinkin' we'd avoid Guinea if we were Mr. Moto.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 12, 2004 6:57 PM