'Blood-thirsty pirates' deserve firing squad
Monday August 30, 2004 08:10 - (SA)
LONDON - The alleged plotters of a coup in Equatorial Guinea are "blood-thirsty pirates" who deserve the firing squad, the country's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said in an interview published on Sunday.
"Tell your British government they must assist me in bringing all these men to justice," he told the Mail on Sunday, whose reporter was granted a rare audience with the African leader at his palace before the arrest of Mark Thatcher on Wednesday in relation to the alleged coup plot.
"I want to see them in my country, in my prisons," he said.
If the alleged plotters were handed over to Equatorial Guinea then the oil-rich country's judges would decide their fate, Obiang said.
"But if I were to be the judge," he added, "I would apply the maximum penalty - execution by firing squad."
Obiang, who came to power in a coup in which he overthrew his uncle and whose government is accused of widespread human rights abuses, said the alleged dogs of war planned murder and mayhem.
"There would have been a massacre here. These men are nothing but blood-thirsty pirates and thieves with no regard for human life. They were doing this to get their hands on our oil, that was their only aim."
Fourteen alleged mercenaries are already being held in the notorious Black Beach prison in the Guinean capital Malabo and their trial on conspiracy charges is ongoing.
A 15th suspect, a German, died while in custody. Officials in the former Spanish colony say he died from cerebral malaria, but rights groups said he was tortured to death.
Obiang said the plotters were bankrolled by a number of businessmen, including the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the Lebanese millionaire Ely Calil, the Mail on Sunday said. Both deny involvement.
"My investigators have uncovered an elaborate network of payments into offshore accounts which we believe are linked to these men and to business associates of theirs."
"I intend to pursue them through courts in Britain and elsewhere by every means possible," Obiang told the Mail.
"The crimes they intended to commit, which include multiple murder, would have been committed here (in Malabo) and this is where I believe they should be brought to face the consequences.
On Friday, Briton Simon Mann, an alleged mastermind of the coup plot and a friend and Cape Town neighbour of Mark Thatcher, was found guilty in a court in Zimbabwe of attempting to illegally buy arms to try to overthrow Obiang.
The court absolved 66 other suspected mercenaries, arrested along with Mann in March when their plane stopped in Harare to pick up weapons - which they say were intended to guard a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The alleged leader of the men currently held in Malabo, South African Nick du Toit, told the court there he was recruited by Mann and was told the plotters wanted to install Severo Moto, an opposition leader living in Spanish exile, as the new president.
Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was on Wednesday arrested at his South African home on charges of bankrolling the coup plot.
AFP
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SA considers Guinea request on Thatcher
Monday August 30, 2004 10:30 - (SA)
South Africa's Justice Ministry will on Monday begin studying a request from Equatorial Guinea to question Mark Thatcher, who has been charged in Cape Town with bankrolling an alleged coup plot to topple the government in Malabo.
"The request is arriving in our office this morning," said ministry spokesman Kaizer Kganyago. "We still have to process it."
Equatorial Guinea on Friday asked South African authorities for permission to question the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher who was charged last Wednesday under South Africa's law barring mercenary activties.
The spokesman said it was difficult to say when a decision would be reached on allowing authorities from Equatorial Guinea to question Thatcher, adding that Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla could even ask the courts to give an opinion on the matter.
"I think it is safe for me to just say that it will be given the urgency it deserves," Kganyago said.
Thatcher, 51, a millionaire businessman, remains under house arrest at his home in the chic Cape Town suburb of Constantia after a court ordered him to surrender his passport and report daily to police.
He is due to make a court appearance on November 25 to answer charges that he contributed 275,000 dollars to Briton Simon Mann, the alleged mastermind of the coup plot.
Mann was found guilty by a Zimbabwe court on Friday of attempting to illegally buy weapons in connection with the alleged coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea and faces up to 10 years in prison when sentences are to be handed down on September 10.
AFP
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Mum's the word
Wednesday September 01, 2004 11:19 - (SA)
LONDON - Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher has agreed to post bail of about R2 million to free her son Mark from house arrest in South Africa, the Times newspaper reported Wednesday.
Sir Mark Thatcher, a 51-year-old businessman, was arrested in Cape Town a week ago on suspicion of helping to finance an alleged coup bid in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. He denies the allegation.
The Times said Baroness Thatcher, 78, had agreed to help her son after a telephone conversation on her return to Britain from a holiday in the United States on August 27.
"The money will be paid within 36 hours," it said.
Baroness Thatcher, known as the Iron Lady when her Conservatives were in power in the 1980s, has made no public comment on her son's situation.
Mark Thatcher was arrested and charged on August 25 with contributing $275,000 to the alleged plan to overthrow Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who himself seized power 25 years ago in a coup.
He has been charged under South Africa's law barring mercenary activity and faces a fine or jail term if convicted.
Thatcher's US-born wife Diane, 45, made a stopover in London Tuesday en route to Dallas, Texas, to put their two children in US schools, a family spokesman said.
AFP
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An anxious wait for wives of coup suspects
By Beauregard Tromp
September 01 2004 at 11:55AM
It had been more than a year since Suzanne Domingos had seen her husband, José, one of the eight South Africans on trail in Equatorial Guinea.
He had been living with her in Denmark, but decided to return to South Africa after he struggled to adapt to the lifestyle.
He said he would send for her as soon as he could.
José eventually found a job on a fishing boat and when word came that the fishing licence was about to come through, Suzanne was already booked and packed to meet her husband in Equatorial Guinea.
But days before her arrival, José and 17 others were arrested for his alleged involvement in a coup plot.
More than a year later, Suzanne sits on a chair that may as well be thousands of kilometres away from José, who still sports the barrel chest and strong build she remembers. But he is shackled and fighting for his freedom in a country that was supposed to bring the two together.
"These days it's so easy to be called a terrorist. Look at America and those people in Guantanamo Bay," she says.
She keeps company with two other women, Belinda du Toit, wife of alleged coup plot leader Nick du Toit, and Georgia Boonzaaier, who is married to another accused, "Bones" Boonzaaier.
When the trio walked into the makeshift courtroom at the Malabo International Convention Centre on Tuesday, they wore brave faces. As their husbands filed in one after another, they stole a glance and shared a smile with their wives.
The rest of the accused also looked for the three women in the crowd, to serve as substitutes for their own loved ones.
Georgia and Belinda had only been able to make the trip because of the kindness of friends, family and good Samaritans.
Citing the International Convention for Civil and Political Rights, the prosecution successfully argued on Tuesday for the case to be postponed until they were able to travel to South Africa to interview Mark Thatcher, accused of financing the plot.
The judge president ruled that it was necessary to establish the facts outside the borders of Equatorial Guinea in order to deliver a "just" sentence. The case was postponed indefinitely.
For the past six months the women have been pillars of strength for each other, confiding their deepest fears and biggest hopes.
For the women who make their way to the courtroom every day and sit in their hotel room by night, there is only one wish, that their husbands come home.
It was a crushing blow when they finally understood, across the obstacles of language and unfamiliar court procedures, that the case had been postponed indefinitely.
"We are concerned about what is going to happen because nobody can tell us. Nobody knows," said Belinda du Toit.
She and Georgia later propped themselves up in bed, snacking on treats they had brought from home. Chocolates, Jelly Tots, biltong. Comfort food. "If only we had a date," said Georgia wistfully.
The biggest question for the women was whether they should return to South Africa or stay. A room at the Candy Hotel costs $100.
"Are we going to have to start the fight all over again to get visas?" asked Belinda.
Prosecutors and investigators are expected to travel to South Africa on Sunday, although no date has been confirmed. They are expected to stay in the country for at least three weeks before returning.
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