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Equatorial Guinea: Simon Mann Sentenced to 34 Years in Jail
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SW Radio Africa (London)
8 July 2008
Posted to the web 8 July 2008
Tichaona Sibanda
Former British army officer Simon Mann has been sentenced to 34 years in jail by a court in Equatorial Guinea, for his part in an attempted coup.
The 55 year-old Mann was arrested by state security agents at Harare international airport four years ago, along with 64 other alleged mercenaries. He was originally sentenced to jail in Zimbabwe for allegedly trying to buy weapons for the attempted coup plot against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
After serving three of his four year jail term at Chikurubi maximum prison, Mann was spirited out to Equatorial Guinea. There are reports his extradition to Equatorial Guinea was in return for cheap oil for Mugabe's regime.
Mann's alleged coup attempt was doomed from the start when he naively landed his plane in Zimbabwe to collect a consignment of weapons. On board were nearly 70 mercenaries whose task, allegedly, was to replace Obiang with Severo Moto, an Equatorial Guinea opposition leader, living in Madrid, Spain.
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On Monday a court in Equatorial Guinea sentenced Mann to 34 years in jail for his part in the attempted coup. During the trial, Mann told the court that Spain and South Africa had both given the green light to the coup attempt. During the trial Mann described how the coup attempt was designed to bring democracy to sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest oil producer, where Nguema has ruled dictatorially since 1979. The UK Times newspaper reports that Nguema is not quite as bad as the uncle he deposed in 1979. Macias Nguema ruled Equatorial Guinea for 11 years after independence from Spain. During that time one third of the population was killed or fled. Macias, an alleged cannibal, once had 150 victims executed in a sports stadium while a band played Those Were the Days, My Friend. Under Mr Obiang half the population have no access to running water, while the President has a Boeing 737, two mansions in America and a US Senate investigation in 2004 showed that Mr Obiang's family had stashed £350 million in a Washington bank. The country has no opposition party and no independent media.
34 years seems fair for being a bloody idiot. It's a shame that other dullard Mark Thatcher isn't sharing his cell.
Glyph, I agree with you. It is a shame that Mann, who comes from such a priviledged family and well moneyed, involved himself in terrorist activities against a gov't. Zimbabwe was right all along, about Mann. If I were to trace British comments on this case, it would appear that somehow Zimbabwe was lying about Mann. Sometimes British commentators assume they know too much of what happens in Africa and their fellow citizens.
Mark Thatcher is probably the worst terrorist around the world. His involved with Mann is well known. For your infromation, Mark Thatcher was banned from entering the... [Read Full Text]
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