Equatorial Guinea Frees British Mercenary

11-04-2009 #1

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Equatorial Guinea Frees British Mercenary

DAKAR, Senegal — Equatorial Guinea said Tuesday that it had pardoned Simon Mann, a former British special forces officer jailed last year for plotting to overthrow the country’s president in a conspiracy that seemed as much a throwback to the continent’s past as a catalog of bungles.

According to a government Web site, Mr. Mann, an alumnus of Britain’s exclusive Eton College and the scion of a wealthy family of brewers, had been pardoned by presidential decree for his part in an episode that also entangled Sir Mark Thatcher, the son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“The pardon was allowed for by presidential decree and granted on humanitarian grounds,” the government said in an announcement from Malabo, the capital. It added that Mr. Mann had “shown sufficient and credible signs of repentance and a desire to take his place in society.”
Mr. Mann, 56, was ordered to leave Equatorial Guinea within 24 ours and w “absolutely prohibited” from returning, the Web posting said. The authorities said that Mr. Mann’s release was based partly on medical grounds.
“We were aware of Mr. Mann’s health,” said the country’s information minister, Jeronimo Osa Osa Ekoro. “He was constantly sick.” Mr. Ekoro added that Mr. Mann’s “behavior, his cooperation during the investigation and his behavior in prison” all weighed in his favor.

“He showed signs of regret,” Mr. Ekoro said in a telephone interview. “The president considered that one must pardon, as Jesus Christ said, when someone has expressed regret.” Mr. Ekoro said Mr. Mann’s release would be televised.

The government announcement said that four of the mercenaries accused of being Mr. Mann’s accomplices were also pardoned, including Nick du Toit, a South African sentenced to 34 years in prison. The announcement of the amnesty came as President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was preparing for a visit from President Jacob Zuma of South Africa.

Mr. Mann, also sentenced to 34 years, was jailed in July 2008, accused of leading a coup attempt that barely reached its target. As the plot unfolded in 2004, he was among a planeload of 80 mercenaries arrested at Harare airport in Zimbabwe after they landed there to pick up weapons on their way to Equatorial Guinea, a central African country with considerable oil and, according to human rights groups, a repressive government.

For his part, Sir Mark pleaded guilty in a South African court to unwittingly helping to bankroll the operation. He was fined and given a suspended sentence.

But fortune reserved a harsher fate for Mr. Mann. He served three years of a seven-year sentence for weapons trafficking in a high-security prison in Zimbabwe and was then extradited to Equatorial Guinea to face trial.
The target of the coup attempt, Mr. Obiang, seized power in 1979 in a coup backed by Moroccan soldiers. Equatorial Guinea has just half a million residents, but it is one of Africa’s leading oil producers.

Mr. Mann’s exploits evoked earlier days in Africa when mercenaries sought rich pickings by supporting or deposing African leaders, depending on who paid the most for their services. Earlier in his career he helped found two private security companies, Sandline International and Executive Outcomes, linked to some of the continent’s most murderous civil conflicts.
Later this month, Equatorial Guinea is scheduled to hold a presidential election, which Mr. Obiang is widely expected to win.
“Obiang periodically amnesties,” said Alex Vines, an expert on the country at the British policy organization Chatham House. Mr. Vines wrote an extensive report on Equatorial Guinea’s human rights failings published this summer by Human Rights Watch.
Adam Nossiter reported from Dakar, and Alan Cowell from Paris.

I was pretty surprised when I read this, health reasons? Yeah right, but its not like the South African government loves these guys either. I guess EG goes through dozens of coup attempts every year, so let these guys go?

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11-04-2009 #2

I can't think of a name

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I still don't understand why their plan was to stop in Zimbabwe and pick up arms there. Did they think Mugabe would not watch a private plane load of Ex-British and South African Soldiers very closely?

I don't know much about coup making but this seemed like a lame plan that deserved a year in prison.

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11-04-2009 #3

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Originally Posted by I can't think of a name

I still don't understand why their plan was to stop in Zimbabwe and pick up arms there. Did they think Mugabe would not watch a private plane load of Ex-British and South African Soldiers very closely?

I don't know much about coup making but this seemed like a lame plan that deserved a year in prison.

I was a well funded and highly organized failed coup and the speculation was that Mugabe was going to turn a blind eye until a certain western power informed him that if he enabled the attempted coup then he would face consequences. It might seem a bit odd to some people that non state approved regime changes are generally frowned upon these days . The backers of the coup gambled on the UK and US being distracted elsewhere as early 2004 was busy time in the war against terror but it would seem UK intel agencies had not lost their focus on Africa and the US State Dept although not at all happy with the governance of many African countries was very keen to preserve the status quo for the time being.