Congo Deports 3 American Workers

KINSHASA, Congo â€”  The government said Monday that it was deporting nearly three dozen foreigners, including three Americans, charged with plotting a coup before national elections, saying it would take too long to prosecute them.

“All 32 mercenaries have been expelled from the country to face justice in their respective countries,� Information Minister Henri Mova Sakanyi said.

Congolese officials had said the men were security guards who were found with weapons and were planning to overthrow the government. The group, arrested about a week ago, consisted of the three Americans, 10 Nigerians and 19 South Africans, Congolese authorities said.

The Americans’ employer, Orlando-based AQMI Strategy Corp., said they were providing security and campaign consulting for a candidate in the July 30 elections.

AQMI said no charges were brought against its employees. AQMI President Frank Amodeo said the allegations “were so completely unwarranted as to be ridiculous.�

The company has said that its workers were not carrying weapons in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire.

A United Nations spokesman in Kinshasa, the capital, has said the organization believes that the arrests were an attempt at political manipulation before the elections. Nearly 18,000 U.N. peacekeepers are in Congo to help maintain order as the vote approaches.

Sakanyi said the government continued to believe the men were plotting a takeover, but it released them rather than get tied down in a lengthy court case. The information minister said the Americans left Saturday, the South Africans on Sunday and that the Nigerians were leaving Monday.