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Equatorial Guinea Coup: Scorpions Arrest Mark Thatcher

It appears we have actually been tracking parts of this story for a while:

Twisted plot of the mercenaries and the oil-rich African dictator

By Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Ben Fenton
(Filed: 26/08/2004)


It takes a lot to get the dogs of war out of their kennels nowadays, but Equatorial Guinea has what it takes: oil and plenty of it.

The tiny West African state has in the past few years become the third largest producer of oil on the continent after Nigeria and Angola.

Its increasingly large revenues have done very nicely for President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, but seem to have had little effect on his 500,000 subjects, who continue to endure one of the lowest standards of living on the planet.

Foreign oil tycoons are supposed to have provided most of the money and the South African mercenaries were alleged to be the muscle to bring democratic rule to Equatorial Guinea and oversee a redistribution of oil wealth that would, naturally, include the plotters.

Eli Calil, a wealthy Lebanese-born oil trader, based in London and with extensive contacts in West Africa, was accused in court documents of being a financier of the plot, but he has vehemently denied any involvement, as has Sir Mark Thatcher.

The inducements were certainly all in place for a coup attempt, but if accounts of the plot (and most have allegedly been obtained under torture) are to be believed, some fairly basic rules of mercenary warfare were not observed.

"We were waiting for them," President Nguema, who has held power since toppling his uncle in 1979, told a magazine a few weeks ago. He had been tipped off by friends in the government of Zimbabwe, who had been tipped off by the government of South Africa who might very well have heard of it from the dinner party gossip of Cape Town. According to local reports this was the coup that everyone seemed to know about. Journalists in Zimbabwe and South Africa were certainly aware that something was up before Simon Mann, the old Etonian former SAS officer and alleged ringleader, was arrested at Harare airport.

With him were 69 people accused of acting as mercenaries, many of them former South African army officers, most of whom had just arrived in Harare from Johannesburg on a Boeing 727 bought by Mann, a veteran soldier of fortune in Angola, Sierra Leone and other of the world's troublespots. All 70 were arrested as they waited for £100,000 of weapons to be loaded on to the aircraft.

At first they said they were on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] to provide security at a diamond mine. But after a series of interrogations by President Robert Mugabe's security forces, this story changed.

According to a statement that had purportedly been obtained from Mann while he was in prison, he had been approached to "escort" Severo Moto, the exiled leader of Equatorial Guinea's political opposition, from his Spanish home back to the capital, Malabo.

Knowing that President Nguema would not welcome this, plans were put in place to remove him from power, according to the alleged statement.

Soon after Mann's detention, the regime in Malabo announced the arrest of Nick du Toit, a former South African special forces soldier, who they said had been leading an advance guard of 15 men already in the country.

Mr du Toit admitted playing a role in the coup and claimed that Mann recruited him. He now faces the death penalty.

The alleged link with Sir Mark is still obscure. He was named in the same magazine interview by President Nguema as a financier of the alleged coup. He is certainly known to Mann, a fellow resident of the Cape Town suburb of Constantia, who calls him "Scratcher".

According to a document supposedly smuggled out of Mann's cell, he was depending on Sir Mark to exercise "clout" to get him out of jail.

He is thought to have had a meeting in Harare last year with Tshinga Dube, the head of Zimbabwe Defence Industries, which was supposed to provide the weapons, albeit that Mr Dube was led to believe that they were for the purpose of defending the DRC diamond mine.

Mann has pleaded guilty to arms offences in Zimbabwe and it seems that he will not be extradited to Equatorial Guinea, where he might have faced a firing squad. But at a hearing on Friday, he could be sentenced to 10 years.

On release, neither he nor any of his alleged co-conspirators can expect a warm welcome back in South Africa, which has introduced tough laws to put an end to its reputation as the origin of any coup attempt on the continent.

As one ex-employee of a firm to which Mann belonged in the Nineties said: "The dogs of war are being put back in their kennels, at least until they learn new tricks."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...26.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/26/ixnewstop.html

So I have brought the older posts over and merged them with this one to give a bit of backstory.

I've also attached the map that comes with the article which explains why the mercs ended up in Zimbabwe.

-------------
And in a broader view - its all about the oil!! I can imagine as the oil starts to run out that such activities will be more overt - Hugo Chavez had better watch his ass as I suspect his days are numbered.
 
Oh and according to the radio South Africa are being especially cooperative as their mining an construction companies are well placed to score big contracts to help mine diamonds and drill for oil ;)
 
Just to reiterate: One [Lord] J. H. Archer may be involved in the funding to the tune of $135,000!

That's funny. He's supposed to be keeping his head down and nose clean!
 
To: [email protected]

Dear Mr Thatcher,

I am sending this E-mail to you because you have been highly recommended.

Please Read!

I am Severli Mentali, the son/daughter/first cousin, of M'legsi Obwandi, ex-son inlaw of the present President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea and I have been charged with the important job of negotiating the exploitation of our country's large natural resources in minerals, diamonds and oil.

This could amount to billions, unfortunately, I have discovered that a few obstacles stand in my path, especially the present President and his government.

That is why I am writing to you as a successful business man and son of your mother. Can you help me to facilitate the more efficient exploitation of my country's natural wealth?

Unfortunately, I find myself temporarily slightly impecunious and financially in need of seed capital, investment resources, weapons, munitions, military transport and a small army. There would be big rewards for a willing friend and backer.

Please send me details of an account opened to the sum of £200,000, as an act of faith and good will, to [email protected].

Thank you, for your trust,

Severli Mentali.
 
:rofl:

"I just love it when a plan comes together" jon smiles at camra and chomps on a cigar
 
You know guys, when I first saw this headline I thougth for a second that the rock band Scorpions had arrested a Mexican TV showman whose name is precisely Mark Tatcher (a rather anoying guy, by the way). The mere absurdity of this idea comes to show how tired I am. I should stop working the night shifts :D
 
Maybe the shock of this will finish the old bag off. I'll put some Cava on ice.

:rofl: :rofl:

Could we really be that lucky????

(Slightly o.t but i remember the day it was announced that she was stepping down as prime minister. I leapt to my feet and threw my hands in the air, no-one else in the room did.....)
 
The Yithian said:
Just to reiterate: One [Lord] J. H. Archer may be involved in the funding to the tune of 5,000!

That's funny. He's supposed to be keeping his head down and nose clean!

It's all just too delicious isn't it??? :D

[EDIT] in light of Bulldogs post, the day she resigned myself and my friends couldn't get to the off licence fast enough, we brought armfuls of lager (we were but teenagers) and sat and drunk the lot as the old bag was kicked out of Number 10...great, great day
 
Messalina said:
It's all just too delicious isn't it??? :D

[EDIT] in light of Bulldogs post, the day she resigned myself and my friends couldn't get to the off licence fast enough, we brought armfuls of lager (we were but teenagers) and sat and drunk the lot as the old bag was kicked out of Number 10...great, great day

I was in sixth form at the time. Some one was listening to the radio on head phones during a free period and announced the news to the rest of the room. A HUGE cheer went up. :D

I have to say schadenfreude is NOT an attractive emotion ... :( ... but .... I can't help it! :D

(They could still use a coup in Equatorial Guinea though, but ideally a "not for profit" one.)
 
This was in 'The Sun' :hmph:

At:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004392343,00.html


Mark at mercy of cannibal

From PAUL THOMPSON
in Cape Town and CHARLES RAE


ACCUSED Sir Mark Thatcher could face 20 years’ jail — but may be handed over to a cannibal dictator said to eat his opponents’ TESTICLES.

The 51-year-old son of ex-PM Margaret Thatcher was arrested in South Africa on suspicion of bankrolling a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.

Senior South African investigators alleged that he agreed to supply a helicopter gunship to a gang of mercenaries behind the plot.

If tried and convicted in South Africa, businessman Thatcher would be liable to a lengthy jail term.

But last night it was believed Equatorial Guinea may seek to extradite him — and his fate there could be far worse.

The tiny West African state has an appalling human rights record.

Prisoners are said to be routinely tortured.

And opponents of despotic President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, claim he eats the testicles of executed prisoners in the belief that it boosts his sex life :eek!!!!:
 
Problem is no one has every credit him with having any balls - brass neck possibly but........

The next one on the hook - yes the pink fluffy "Hello Kitty" one.
 
'Distressed' Thatcher flies home

Baroness Thatcher has arrived back at her London home as it emerged her son Sir Mark could face extradition proceedings in South Africa.

Equatorial Guinea's government has asked for Sir Mark's extradition over allegations he helped finance an alleged coup plot in its country.

As she returned to Britain, Lady Thatcher refused to comment but friends say she is distressed.

Sir Mark, now under house arrest, says he is innocent of all charges.

'Confident'

Lucie Bourthoumieu, a lawyer for the government of Equatorial Guinea, which still uses the death penalty for serious crimes, said the country had "strong hopes" of Sir Mark being extradited.

"South Africa is cooperating, and they are willing to fight furiously against all mercenaryism and terrorism," said the lawyer.

Lady Thatcher, who has been in America, was surrounded by at least five bodyguards as she was helped out of a Jaguar car on her return to her London home on Friday.

On Thursday, her close adviser Lord Bell told Channel 4 News: "She is obviously distressed about the fact her son appears to be in some difficulty."

We would like it to be cleared up as soon as possible.
Ron Wheeldon
Sir Mark's solicitor

"(But) she is very confident about the South African legal process and she is sure he will be cleared and named innocent at the end of it."

Makhosini Nkosi, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman, said Sir Mark's house was on the market and had suitcases ready around his house indicating he was preparing to leave.

"He did confirm he was planning to relocate to Texas," he added.

But Sir Mark's solicitor and friend Ron Wheeldon said claims he had been planning to leave were a fabrication.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he had seen only empty travel trunks in the house, which had been there for five years.

Investigations

Mr Wheeldon also said Sir Mark had never had discussions with mercenary leader Simon Mann about investing in any of his schemes.

He added: "We would like it to be cleared up as soon as possible.

"We think that this is a political showboating exercise that is aimed at making a political point, rather than a criminal trial of Mark Thatcher."

I have no involvement in an alleged coup in Equatorial Guinea and I reject all suggestions to the contrary
Sir Mark Thatcher

Appearing in court on Wednesday, Sir Mark was bailed to reappear on 25 November and ordered to pay a two million Rand (£165,000) bail bond.

He is accused of violating laws banning South African residents from taking part in foreign military action.

Sir Mark was arrested on Wednesday at his home in the Cape Town suburb of Constantia.

Sir Mark, whose wife is from Texas, moved to Cape Town from the United States in the late 1990s but frequently travels between the two.

Investigators were said to be examining his records and computers for information about the alleged plot.

Sipho Ngwema, a spokesman for the South African police anti-fraud unit known as the Scorpions, told the BBC that police had "credible evidence" of Sir Mark's involvement.

'Cooperating fully'

The act specified a fine or imprisonment for conviction, but not the severity, which is left up to the presiding officer, Mr Ngwema said.



Sir Mark said in a statement: "I am innocent of all charges made against me. I have been and am cooperating fully with the authorities in order to resolve the matter.

"I have no involvement in an alleged coup in Equatorial Guinea and I reject all suggestions to the contrary."

The alleged plot to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea has sparked dozens of arrests across Africa.

The alleged plot leader, former British SAS captain Simon Mann, an old Etonian turned leading African mercenary, has admitted trying to procure dangerous weapons - a charge which carries a possible 10-year jail sentence.
Story from BBC NEWS:news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3604314.stm


Ahh, poor wittle widdums...
:hmph:
So Scratcher was trying to hot foot it to Texas was he? Well, I'm sure Georgy Boy would have given him a warm welcome. Maybe even a job...
Here's hoping he's up to his neck in shit.

"(But) she is very confident about the South African legal process and she is sure he will be cleared and named innocent at the end of it."
But SA ain't the place it was when she was in power. Being rich and white is no longer admissable as evidence of innocence.
 
StellaBoulton said:
So Scratcher was trying to hot foot it to Texas was he? Well, I'm sure Georgy Boy would have given him a warm welcome. Maybe even a job...

They have an awful lot in common, but at least no one has tried to get Mark elected!

I was hoping Mark would end up on Robin Island. Ah, the irony!:)
 
Quite Seriously though

If all the allegations are true, then just think of the insight the case might give into the true nature of these sorts of conspiracies.

Weak Governments in exotic places being toppled, not by mysterious and esoteric organisations like the Illuminati, or the Anunaki lizardmen, but by seedy, old school tie, lounge lizard, entrepreneurs and greedy, old boy's network, clubbable, venture capitalists.

It will be interesting to see how it all pans out, as, by all accounts, M. Scratcher appears to be the nearest amongst them to a top rung celebrity. Will HMG end up pulling out all the stops to save their arses?

What a difference from the days of the 'Sandline Affair' and all the whitewash, not to mention hogwash, that surrounded that mess.
 
Things don't look too rosey for Scratcher if this piece of breaking news is anything to go by...

'Mercenary leader' found guilty

Former British SAS officer Simon Mann has been found guilty of attempting to buy arms for an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.

A Zimbabwean court acquitted 66 other suspected mercenaries arrested with Mann when their plane was impounded in the capital, Harare, in March.

Mann had pleaded guilty to trying to procure dangerous weapons.

But he denied a second charge of purchasing the weapons, insisting that the deal never went through.

Story from BBC NEWS:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3605022.stm
 
Whenever you hear these stories of shocking criminality, you just know who to blame.

Feckless lazy indulgent parents who have made a career out of living off the state.

Oh the irony!
 
well as a former member of the SAS hes lived on hand outs of tax money probably all his life and is now on a pension paid for out of my tax... freekig scrounger.
 
The image of Thatcher being led away to prison in handcuffs yelling "I would've got away with it if it wasn't for you pesky kids!" will stay with me for some time!
 
As his passport is confiscated perhaps Mark will try to escape by driving across the Kalahari.:)

News 2009, Thatcher's wasted ramains found in Land rover on the Skeleton Coast....
 
Maggie just paid his bail...
 
A fascinating article which hints at the braoder settings (and suggests Thatcher had fingers in more pies across the continent):

Adventure playground

Africans have good reason to be suspicious of British involvement in their affairs

George Monbiot
Tuesday August 31, 2004
The Guardian

Here's how one estate agency, promoting homes in Mark Thatcher's Cape Town suburb, Constantia, describes the benefits of living in South Africa. "A weak rand gives you tremendous buying power if you're paying with dollars or sterling," EscapeArtist.com reveals. "Around R8,000 [£663] a month will do for a married couple. What kind of lifestyle will this buy you? A villa with a pool, a car and a daily maid... South Africa is one of the few places in the world where you'll find first world comforts and infrastructure, and third world prices on everything from food, to diamonds, to real estate ... South Africa has problems, but that's what makes for opportunity."

Africa, to the British upper classes, remains an adventure playground, a deer park and a treasury. And Constantia is one of those many enclaves of apartheid - to be found everywhere from Table Mountain to Mt Kenya - prospering in a post-apartheid continent.

What happier roost could there be for Mark and his mother? Margaret Thatcher found that permitting British companies to break the sanctions against the apartheid regime turned South Africa's problems into our opportunities. When Mark was asked what he thought of his mother's position, he replied: "My sympathy is with the struggling white community."

In 2001, Lady Thatcher announced that she would spend part of every year in Constantia with her son. Here they could live, not far from Earl Spencer and Ian Smith, as the members of their adopted class lived in Britain before the second world war. For some of their neighbours, that era has never passed. The language in the begging letter sent from prison by Thatcher's friend Simon Mann (Eton, Sandhurst, Scots Guards), comes straight from PG Wodehouse. "Smelly and Scratcher," he moaned, weren't helping their old chum. "It may be that getting us out comes down to a large splodge of wonga!"

Mann and Thatcher (Harrow, too thick for anywhere else) belong to a class which still believes it has a God-given right to oversee the lives of the Africans. Among Lady Thatcher's friends with homes on the slopes of Table Mountain was John Aspinall (Rugby, Oxford, Royal Marines), the gambling millionaire, zoo-keeper and remnant of that species of upper-class British fascist that used to keep the Duke of Windsor company. Aspinall believed that most of the human population should be culled by means of "benign genocide". He argued that "medical research should be funded into abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and birth control" and described his third wife as "a perfect example of the primate female, ready to serve the dominant male and make his life agreeable". Aspinall worked with Mangosuthu Buthelezi to undermine the African National Congress. He argued that South Africa should be split into 30 bantustans.

"Aspers" was the hub of a circle of rightwing extremists who sought to meddle in the affairs of Europe's former colonies. Robin Birley, the son of one of his closest friends, was mauled by one of Aspinall's tigers when he was 12, but this did their relationship no harm. Birley's mother left her husband for Aspinall's chum Sir James Goldsmith, and both Aspers and Birley (who inherited Annabel's, London's poshest nightclub, from his father) stood as candidates for Goldsmith's Referendum party. Some years ago, I had a furious row with Birley after he told me that he believed he had not just a right but a duty to give help to Renamo, the South African-backed force which terrorised the people of Mozambique.

Another of Aspinall's friends was the Spectator columnist Taki Theodoracopoulos. With Carla Powell, the wife of Lady Thatcher's former private secretary, he led the campaign in the British rightwing press to canonise Buthelezi. Taki once wrote of Kenya that "democracy is as likely to come to bongo-bongo land as I am to send a Concorde ticket to my children". He has complained that "Britain is being mugged by black hoodlums ... West Indians were allowed to immigrate after the war [and] multiply like flies". In 1999, Taki and Birley funded the campaign to free Augusto Pinochet. Their PR man was Lady Thatcher's old spin doctor Lord Bell, who worked for the South African National party in the 1994 elections, and is now representing Mark.

Ever since Cecil Rhodes seized Matabeleland, the British right's struggle for ideological control in Africa has been linked to its efforts to seize the continent's resources. Mann's network of nobs had its fingers in mines and oilfields all over Africa. The mercenaries who provided muscle in return for mining concessions tried to use class connections to make their operations respectable.

Mann founded his company, Executive Outcomes, with the British businessman Tony Buckingham. Buckingham counted among his friends the privy counsellor and former leader of the Social Democrats, Lord Steel.Until 1997 when he resigned, Steel was a director of one of Buckingham's other African interests, a company called Heritage Oil and Gas. He said at the time that his resignation was due to the company's restructuring, but later reports said that he resigned because of its connections with Executive Outcomes.

All this is a long introduction to what is supposed to be a column about Darfur. My purpose is to show that Africans have every reason to be suspicious of British involvement in their affairs. There is no question that the British are, and always have been, "concerned" about Africa, but their concern remains a proprietorial one. When the Sudanese government claims that Britain is after its oil and gold, it is half right: even if the British government isn't, some of its prominent citizens are. Thatcher is said to be among them. Last week Mann's alleged accomplice, Nick du Toit, testified in court in Equatorial Guinea that Thatcher was among them. He said that Thatcher wanted to buy helicopters from him for "a mining operation going on in Sudan". Thatcher denies all such allegations.

The Sudanese government appears to be trying to commit genocide by natural causes in Darfur. The Fur, Massaleet and Zagawa peoples are being driven from their homes just as the rains are making survival in the bush almost impossible. Its claim that 1,200 people have been killed is risible. The UN says 50,000 have died; a more comprehensive analysis by the Sudan specialist Eric Reeves suggests 200,000. It's a catastrophe, and it's likely, partly as a result of the UN's disastrous procrastination, to become far worse.

For once, the US and the UK governments appear to be on the right side, pressing Sudan more forcefully than the other members of the security council to disarm the Janjaweed militias and accept a large African Union peacekeeping force. We should support them. But they are hobbled by three massive credibility deficits. First, after the farce in Iraq and the sell-out in Israel, no Arab government will ever again trust them to intervene dispassionately. Second, the institutions they control - particularly the cannibalistic IMF - are responsible for more deaths every year in Africa than the Janjaweed. Third, Britain's colonial history is not yet over.

The British are still hated in Africa, and with good reason. Tony Blair might huff and puff about the continent being a scar on the conscience of the world, but while our own citizens still regard it as their personal fiefdom, it's hard to see why anyone who lives there should take him seriously.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1293940,00.html
 
And more on the Establishment figures behind this:

The latest twist in the saga comes at the end of an extraordinary week in which the attempted coup in a forgotten but oil rich corner of West Africa has sucked in several establishment figures and a rightwing coterie of businessmen, including Sir Mark, oil millionaire Ely Calil and Lord Archer.

..........

Jeffrey Archer, the disgraced peer and former Tory deputy chairman, is alleged to have paid Mann £80,000, but he has denied knowledge of any coup plot.

Yesterday friends of James Kershaw, the man named as the coup accountant who had allegedly handed the "Wonga list" - those who invested in the coup plot - over to the South African authorities, denied reports that he was in hiding under witness protection.

They say he went to see the South African authorities shortly after the coup attempt and gave a detailed statement.

Another businessman facing questions about his involvement in the coup plot is Nigel Morgan, a former guards officer and long standing friend of the Thatcher family, who was one of the addressees on the plea for help letter Mann wrote from his prison cell. Mr Morgan had employed Mr Kershaw as an IT expert and accountant at the Miba diamond mine in Congo where he was in charge of security until last year.

Asked yesterday by the Guardian whether he was involved in the coup plot he said: "I am not going to comment. I don't think it will help Simon and I don't think it will help Mark." Asked whether, like Mr Kershaw, he had given evidence to the South African authorities he refused to comment saying: "The status of that is unclear."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1292595,00.html

You can imagine them sitting around in their gentlemans clubs or on the verandahs discussing how much ownga they need to throw into the pot and how much return they get on their investment. The "Wonga List" must make fascinating reading and I'm really looking forward to the next Private Eye ;)
 
Court to sentence 'mercenaries'

By Barnaby Phillips
BBC correspondent in Johannesburg

A court in Zimbabwe is expected to pass sentence on 67 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea.

They were arrested in March when they landed at Harare Airport.

Most of the accused have been convicted of minor offences and may be allowed to return to South Africa.

But their alleged leader, the former British SAS officer Simon Mann, is in a lot more trouble and could be facing a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

He has been convicted of trying to buy weapons to use in Equatorial Guinea.

The alleged mercenaries have suffered a miserable six months in Zimbabwe's most notorious jail.

They were often in chains and have complained of frequent beatings.

He is a humane man, but an adventurer... very English, a romantic, tremendously good company
Paul Greengrass
Film director
Most of them will be hoping their ordeal is over when the court hands out sentences on Friday.

Friend of Thatcher

Mann has led a colourful life. Educated at a prestigious British boarding school, he was a successful soldier before he drifted into the murky world of private security in Africa.

Mann's good friend and Cape Town neighbour, Sir Mark Thatcher, will be watching events keenly from South Africa.

Sir Mark, who is the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has been arrested by the South African police and is accused of helping to fund the coup.

He denies any involvement.

Story from BBC NEWS:news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3643250.stm
 
New Archer link to coup plot alleged

Hi

an update on this story:

source:
-----------------------------------

http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1326040,00.html
David Pallister, Jamie Wilson and David Leigh
Wednesday October 13, 2004
The Guardian

quote:
---------------------------------------

New Archer link to coup plot alleged

New evidence has emerged linking Jeffrey Archer to the alleged conspirators behind the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea. A lawyer for the Equatorial Guinea government said in London yesterday that telephone records showed four calls between the homes of one of the alleged financiers behind the plot, London-based Lebanese businessman Ely Calil, and Lord Archer in the run-up to the coup attempt in March.

Another alleged plotter, businessman Greg Wales, also made five calls to Sir
Mark Thatcher in the days after the failed coup.

Solicitor Henry Page said: "The calls ... provide substantial links between the
conspirators around the time of the coup attempt."

Last night Lord Archer responded to a report about the telephone calls in the
London Evening Standard. His lawyer released a statement on behalf of the peer, who was jailed for perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001.

"The Evening Standard reports that on January 3 2004 Lord Archer was telephoned from Mr Calil's number on two occasions, and one of those calls lasted for 15 minutes," the statement said. "That call was between different family members and did not include Lord Archer, who on that occasion was in Cambridge."

The telephone records obtained by the newspaper show that Mr Calil, who has
strenuously denied any involvement in the coup attempt, called the home of Lord Archer on four occasions. The purpose of the calls is not clear.

Lord Archer, who has denied any involvement, was first dragged into the
controversy after a payment from a JH Archer of $134,000 (£74,000) was deposited into the bank account of Simon Mann, the Old Etonian former SAS officer who led the failed coup and was subsequently jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe on charges linked to the plot.

Mr Page, who accompanied Equatorial Guinea's foreign minster, Pastor Micha Ondo Bile, and attorney general on visits to the Foreign and Home Offices yesterday, said a formal request to interview Lord Archer would be made shortly.

The Home Office has already agreed to facilitate interviews with Mr Wales and Mr Calil.

Sir Mark is due to appear in court in Cape Town next month charged with helping to finance the plot.

Mr Calil and his lawyers were not available for comment.

---------------------------------------

Mal F
 
I thought all this had gone a bit quiet, but things appear to be hotting up again-

Thatcher at 'coup' case challenge

Sir Mark Thatcher has appeared in court in South Africa as his lawyers argue against an order forcing him to answer questions about a suspected coup plot.

His lawyers are challenging the South African justice ministry's agreement to a request from Equatorial Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea prosecutors want to question the 51-year-old about claims he helped fund a coup plot there.

His lawyers argue that could prejudice his trial in South Africa for alleged mercenary activity, charges he denies.

'Interested observer'

His lawyer, Alan Bruce-Brand, told the AFP news agency: "We are going to court to defend our client's right to remain silent.

"It's an interesting case and we are confident about our chances."

His team has submitted more than 80 pages of argument to the Cape High Court and three judges are to hear the arguments, expected to last two days.

Mr Bruce-Brand said: "It is very difficult to tell when a decision will be made on this matter. It is a very difficult case."

South African justice ministry spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said: "We will present our case according to our legislation - the International Co-operation in Criminal Matters Act."

Barnaby Phillips, BBC News correspondent in Johannesburg, said Sir Mark's appearance at the hearing was something of a surprise.

"He didn't have to be there on Tuesday or Wednesday. Given that South African TV cameras have been given permission to film inside the court, it was widely assumed he wouldn't be," he said.

"Mark Thatcher is really just an observer in court, albeit a highly interested one."

Police bail

The questions about Sir Mark's role in the alleged conspiracy to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema were to be put to him on 22 September.

But the hearing was postponed when South Africa's justice ministry said it needed more time to prepare.

The son of former UK Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher was arrested in August by South African police and released after posting bail of £167,000, reportedly paid by his 78-year-old mother.

He is accused of helping to fund the purchase of a helicopter, breaching laws banning South African residents from taking part in foreign military action.

His lawyers maintain that the funds were an investment in an air ambulance venture for west Africa.

He could face 15 years in jail if convicted.

From BBC News
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3651734.stm
 
Hi

news update

source:
--------------------

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1350853,00.html

quote:
--------------------

Straw: We did know of Africa coup

Antony Barnett and Martin Bright
Sunday November 14, 2004
The Observer

The British government knew about the alleged plot to overthrow the President of Equatorial Guinea at least five weeks before a group of mercenaries was arrested in March for planning the coup.

In a dramatic admission, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, confirmed that the government had been 'informed' of the alleged coup plot 'in late January 2004'. On 7 March a group of mercenaries, led by an Old Etonian and former SAS officer, Simon Mann, was arrested in Zimbabwe. They were charged with plotting a putsch.

Straw's disclosure is the latest twist in a remarkable tale that has dragged in several high-profile figures. In August, Sir Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British Prime Minister, was arrested in South Africa after being accused of helping to finance the coup to remove President Obiang. He faces criminal charges that he broke the country's anti-mercenary laws. Thatcher denies any knowledge or involvement in the plot.

Straw's admission came in a parliamentary answer last week in the Commons to a question tabled by the Tories' shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram.

Until now, cabinet ministers have denied any prior knowledge of the attempted African coup which would be illegal under international law.

In August, The Observer reported accusations that an individual who was intimately involved in the alleged plot against Obiang was claiming British officials had advanced knowledge of the plot. Foreign Office officials dismissed the claims, issuing a categorical denial that Britain had 'prior knowledge of the alleged plot'.

At the time of the March arrests, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe accused Britain, the US and Spain of plotting a coup in the oil-rich West African state. The suggestion was that the coup was an attempt to gain control over Equatorial Guinea's new-found oil wealth that has turned the small country into Africa's third-biggest oil producer. These allegations have been strongly denied by foreign governments.

Yet the admission by Straw that the government had been informed of the coup plot several weeks in advance has raised questions about the role played by Britain. Senior opposition politicians are demanding to know who informed ministers and what they then did with the information received.

A source close to the government of Equatorial Guinea described Straw's admission as being 'very surprising'.

He said that President Obiang would be seeking an immediate explanation from Straw as to why no warning was passed to the government of Equatorial Guinea, a country with which Britain has full diplomatic relations.

He added: 'This is particularly surprising in view of the fact that a number of British citizens and residents of the UK appear to be central to the conspiracy to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.'

As well as Mann and Mark Thatcher, other British-based individuals linked to the plot include Ely Calil, a Lebanese millionaire oil trader who lived in Chelsea. Calil, who has temporarily moved to Lebanon, denies any involvement in bankrolling the coup, which allegedly aimed to replace Obiang with an exiled politician, Severo Moto.

Senior detectives at Scotland Yard are investigating claims by ministers from Equatorial Guinea that the plot was largely planned and financed in Britain.

Ancram said: 'Jack Straw's reply raises very significant questions which require answers. Who informed the government, exactly when and what did ministers do with this information?'

Ancram has tabled several further parliamentary questions to get to the bottom of this. His concerns were echoed by Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrats' foreign affairs spokesman.

He said: 'This reply characteristically raises more questions than it answers. Not only do we need to know what steps did the government take to warn the government of Equatorial Guinea, but what steps they took to ensure that British citizens did not become involved.'

This weekend the Foreign Office refused to explain the background to Straw's answer arguing that it was 'sub judice'. On Tuesday, the trial begins in the Equatorial Guinean capital Malabo of one of the alleged coup leaders, Nick du Toit.

The prospect of a diplomatic row between Britain and Equatorial Guinea could put in jeopardy more than £1 billion of British contracts.

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Endquote

Mal F
 
Thatcher to be tried in absentia

Sir Mark Thatcher is to be tried in his absence by a court in Equatorial Guinea over an alleged plot to overthrow its president, a defence lawyer said.

Fabian Nsue Nguema said eight new names, including Sir Mark's, have been added to the list of accused.

Last month Sir Mark appeared in court in Cape Town as his lawyers argued against an order forcing him to answer questions about a suspected coup plot.

Lady Thatcher's son denies knowledge of, or involvement in, the plot.

The announcement came on Tuesday as the trial of 19 defendants accused of seeking to overthrow the president of the small, oil-rich West African nation, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, resumed after a two-month recess.

'Spectacular' change

"Eight new names have been added to the list of accused, including Britain's Mark Thatcher who will be tried in absentia," said Mr Nsue, who is representing South African Nick du Toit, who is accused of being in charge of logistics for an attempted coup against the president.

Mr du Toit, 48, who was the only defendant to have admitted to a minor role in the alleged plot, retracted his confession before the court in Malabo on Tuesday.

He said: "There was no attempted coup d'etat in this country.

"I had to tell these people what they wanted. It was the only way to stay alive."

In Equatorial Guinea the state prosecutors have already charged 19 people, including eight South Africans - one of whom is Mr du Toit - a six-man Armenian air crew and five Equatorial Guineans, one of whom is a former deputy government minister.







They were alleged to be a reception committee for a group of mercenaries supposed to fly in from Zimbabwe and guide them to their targets in Equatorial Guinea.

The Zimbabweans accused of being involved were arrested in Harare on 7 March.

Sir Mark, the son of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested in August by South African police and released after posting bail of £167,000, reportedly paid by his 78-year-old mother.

He is accused of helping to fund the purchase of a helicopter, breaching laws banning South African residents from taking part in foreign military action.

His lawyers maintain the funds were an investment in an air ambulance venture for west Africa.

Sir Mark could face 15 years in jail if convicted.

In September former British SAS officer Simon Mann, suspected of leading the alleged mercenaries, was jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe for illegally trying to buy weapons.

Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, has been ruled by President Obiang since he seized power from his uncle in a coup in 1979.



Story from BBC NEWS:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4015895.stm
 
Another update-

Thatcher on new 'coup plot' list

Sir Mark Thatcher has been included on a new list of nine suspects being linked to an alleged plot to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea.

The nation's attorney general, Jose Olo Obono, denied earlier reports that they would be tried in their absence.

Last month, Sir Mark appeared in court in Cape Town as his lawyers argued against an order forcing him to answer questions about a suspected coup plot.

Lady Thatcher's son denies knowledge of, or involvement in, any plot.

Mr Obono said Equatorial Guinea may try at a later stage to extradite all the people it is accusing of involvement.

The nine foreigners on the list are accused of helping to finance a plot.

The announcement came on Tuesday, as the trial of 19 defendants accused of seeking to overthrow the president of the small, oil-rich West African nation, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, resumed after a two-month recess.
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Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4015895.stm
 
There's something on TV tonight about this:

Mark Thatcher and the Dogs of War

Wed 17 Nov, 19:30 - 20:00 30 mins


On November 25th Sir Mark Thatcher faces an appearance in a South African court on charges that he helped fund a military coup in the West African state of Equatorial Guinea.

If found guilty, he could face fifteen years in a South African prison. The Money Programme travels to Africa to tell the full story of the attempted coup and the men who led it.

What was Sir Mark's role, and how much did he really know? We reveal new evidence about the extent of Sir Mark Thatcher's alleged involvement, and uncover the real reason behind the plot.
 
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