Mystery shrouds oil coup plotters

THE AUSTRALIAN
September 13, 2004

HARARE: Sixty-eight mercenaries, including former British special forces officer Simon Mann, will begin serving jail sentences in Zimbabwe this week after being convicted of joining a plot to stage a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.

Mann was to get $US15million ($21.4 million) for his part in the coup and his followers were due to receive $US3million each, the court was told.

But Western observers of the six-week trial in Harare said the proceedings failed to shed light on the plot and that little hard evidence was introduced in court.

Human rights lawyer Brian Kagoro said: “It would appear difficult to prove the case of a coup plot just from the evidence in the trial.”

After the 68 mercenaries were arrested on a plane at Harare airport in March, politicians warned they would face coup charges, including conspiring to commit international terrorism, but the men ended up going to trial on less serious charges.

They were charged and convicted under Zimbabwe’s laws of conspiring to possess dangerous weapons and breaching aviation and immigration laws. Mann, an Old Etonian and son of a former England cricket captain, received seven years.

Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is under house arrest in South Africa after being accused of financing the plot.

Zimbabwe accused Mann and his men of joining the plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in the oil-rich central African state of Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony.

But the group claimed they were going to the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard diamond mines.

Prosecutors said the plan was to topple Mr Obiang and replace him with exiled opposition leader Severo Moto. At the trial, the prosecution said it had a copy of the contract signed by Mann and Mr Moto to overthrow Mr Obiang, but it was not produced in court.

Prosecutor Lawrence Phiri said Mann was to receive $US15 million in payment for his military role in staging the coup, while the men under his command were each due to receive $US3 million.

The prosecution linked the group to the coup plot by detailing the weapons Mann bought from the state arms manufacturer, Zimbabwe Defence Industries, which included 61 AK-47s, 150 hand grenades, rocket launchers and mortars.

“These items are exclusively of military use, not for a security company,” Mr Phiri told the court. Analysts also said the weapons were too heavy for use by a security firm.

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