Nigeria frees Ukraine arms plane

Nigerian authorities have allowed a Ukrainian aircraft to leave the country one month after it was impounded for carrying weapons.

The plane was on its way to Equatorial Guinea but refuelled in Nigeria.

Officials impounded it after reportedly uncovering a cargo of 18 crates of mines and ammunition.

The plane's Ukrainian owners said all the necessary documents were in place and Nigerian officials had no reason to impound it.

Ukraine's state arms exporter Ukrspetseksport said the cargo did not belong to Ukraine.

The plane had been flying from Croatia when it stopped in Kano for refuelling on 17 June.

Equatorial Guinea has a recent history of coup plots, and earlier this year there was an attack on the presidential palace in the capital, Malabo.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema dismissed several government ministers over the incident.

The president has been in power in the oil-rich former Spanish colony since seizing power in a coup in 1979.

His government has long been accused of human rights abuses and of suppressing political opposition.

Last year, a former British army officer, Simon Mann, was sentenced to 34 years in jail for plotting to overthrow him in 2004.