7 years for 'coup plot leader'

Friday, September 10, 2004 Posted: 1152 GMT (1952 HKT)



Mann, center, at Chikurubi maximum security prison, outside Harare

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- A court in Zimbabwe has sentenced the alleged leader of suspected mercenaries accused of plotting to topple the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea to seven years in jail.

Simon Mann, an ex-member of the UK's SAS special forces, was found guilty last month of attempting to illegally purchase weapons that prosecutors said were to be used in the coup in the West African country.

Sixty-five other suspected mercenaries who were also on the plane that landed at Harare to allegedly pick up weapons in March were sentenced to 12 months in jail Friday after being convicted of immigration offences. The two pilots were given 16-month jail sentences.

The case sparked huge interest recently when Mann's friend Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was arrested last month in South Africa in connection with the alleged plot.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/09/10/zimbabwe.mercenaries/

How Mann's men shaped Africa's wars

September 10 2004 at 06:32AM

By Carole Landry


Briton Simon Mann was a driving force behind two mercenary firms, Executive Outcomes and Sandline International, that shaped the outcome of wars in Angola and Sierra Leone, even extending their reach to Asia, in Papua New Guinea.

The firms offered the services of a private army of well-trained troops willing to "help end armed conflicts in places like Africa in the absence of effective international intervention", according to Sandline's website.

Mann is to be sentenced on Friday two weeks after he was convicted in Zimbabwe of attempting to illegally buy weapons that prosecutors said were to be used in a coup to topple the president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
'They weren't going in as a peacekeeping force'

The 51-year-old former member of Britain's crack Special Air Services (SAS) troops set up Executive Outcomes in 1989 with fellow ex-SAS member Tony Buckingham and several former South African military men, many of whom had first-hand experience fighting on behalf of the apartheid government in Angola and elsewhere in southern Africa.

The Pretoria-based firm closed up shop in 1999 after the post-apartheid government outlawed mercenary work in South Africa
more
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=qw109478772792Z511

Other alleged financiers on the list include Mr Calil's Lebanese associate Karim Fallaha, London businessman Greg Wales, London-based property dealer Gary Hersham - a former business partner of Mr Calil's - and a South Africa-based British businessman, David Tremain. Each is alleged to have raised $500,000. Mr Tremain is alleged to have been "fronting" for a syndicate of South African and other minor investors.

Mr Hersham, who runs Beauchamps, a prominent Mayfair estate agency, denies investing any money or knowing of a coup. He says he helped Mr Mann try to raise cash by introducing him to a banker in order to mortgage his £800,000 London house in Portobello Road, Notting Hill.


According to the London newsletter Africa Confidential, Mr Calil is considering suing those Equatorial Guinean officials who have accused him of financing the plot.

Other alleged financiers on the list include Mr Calil's Lebanese associate Karim Fallaha, London businessman Greg Wales, London-based property dealer Gary Hersham - a former business partner of Mr Calil's - and a South Africa-based British businessman, David Tremain. Each is alleged to have raised $500,000. Mr Tremain is alleged to have been "fronting" for a syndicate of South African and other minor investors.

Mr Hersham, who runs Beauchamps, a prominent Mayfair estate agency, denies investing any money or knowing of a coup. He says he helped Mr Mann try to raise cash by introducing him to a banker in order to mortgage his £800,000 London house in Portobello Road, Notting Hill.

more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1301383,00.html

these people think that they are 'decent and moral' human beings.

What's a little more chaos when there's already so much in the world? My only question is how in the world did they think that 67 or 75 (or whatever) people were going to overthrow an entire government. This is just so Mission Impossible it gives me a headache.

could probably give a small, poorly trained army a run for it's money.

Bear in mid these are people that have had some of the best training in the world & have sent all their adult lives fighting, not just on manouvers, but actually in combat.

As for the government they were going to overthrow - well I don't think many tears would be shed at President Nguema's passing.

I am not defending these chaps, I tend to feel that mercenaries get what's coming to them.

rookies. Somehow I expect more from professional deathmongers and the like.

As for the government it tried to overthrow, I agree, the world would not be the worse for it's demise. But it's always the innocent bystander that takes the real brunt of these operations. Look at Haiti for example.

They want to make it seem like it wasn't as fascistic and evil as it was. They do that by pretending they were just a bunch of crazies.

son Kevin who with ex-Mirror Newspapers Financial Director Larry Trachtenberg - are on the brink of yet another bankruptcy (went down for £400 million in 1992) as a company they bought, Global Investments, is going down the pan for £1 billion.....

I have a book that tells a bit about Executive Outcomes and some of this other history -- need to actually sit down and read it! I just skimmed and got the impression these were basically lowlifes in it for the money, and lots of it.

doesn't mean that they don't just do it for money. But they do occasionally do something useful.

The Dogs of War
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=9558

a case of getting what he deserves

seemslikeadream! I don't often post to your threads but read them with great interest. Thanks for keeping me aware and more informed on this important issue.

I appreciate your kind words, it means alot to me.

67 'mercenaries' sent to jail
10/09/2004 16:09 - (SA)

Harare - The 65 suspected mercenaries being held in Zimbabwe in connection with a plot to stage a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea have been sentenced to 12 months in jail.

The two men who flew the Being 727 to Harare in March to pick up weapons, allegedly bound for Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, were given 16-month jail sentences for violating immigration laws.

Briton Simon Mann, the alleged mastermind behind the failed plot, was sentenced to seven years in jail by a Zimbabwe court on weapons charges.

Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe handed down the sentences in connection with an alleged conspiracy to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled Equatorial Guinea for 25 years.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1587285,00.html

:hi:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1301856,00.html

A court in Zimbabwe today sentenced British mercenary Simon Mann to seven years in prison for attempting to buy arms to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.

The court also handed down 16-month sentences to the two pilots of a plane that landed in Zimbabwe in March carrying dozens of suspected mercenaries. The 65 men who were on the plane were convicted of immigration offences and given 12- month sentences.

Mann, a former SAS officer and co-founder of security group Executive Outcomes, admitted trying to buy assault rifles, grenades, anti-tank rocket launchers and other weapons from Zimbabwe Defence Industries. He and the 65 mercenaries were arrested at Harare international airport on March 7 as they awaited delivery of the weapons.

<snip>

One of Mann's former associates at Executive Outcomes, Nick du Toit, is currently on trial for his life in Equatorial Guinea for his part in the alleged plot. Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has been charged in South Africa with helping to fund the plot via a payment to a third party. He has been subpoenaed to answer questions on September 22. Sir Mark denies any involvement or knowledge of the coup.

...more...

sorry for the "dupe" post seemlikeadream - searched for the wrong "key" word :D

Glad that Mann will be out of commission - hope that all of these guys get locked up and the keys get thrown away.