Smith told VOA that by freeing the prisoners, President Obiang might be trying to improve his international image. "Some people are linking it to the fact that President Jacob Zuma of South Africa is due in the country soon and President Obiang wanted to relegate the Equatorial Guinea coup plot -- and Simon Mann's involvement in it, along with a lot of South Africans-wanted to relegate that to history" he said. Mann was arrested along with 63 others in 2004 when his plane landed in Zimbabwe allegedly to collect arms bought from the country's state arms manufacturer. Full Article at Voice of America