Simon Mann#Equatorial Guinea coup attempt

Simon Mann's father, George, captained the England cricket team in the late 1940s and was an heir to a stake in the Watney Mann brewing empire that closed in 1979, having been acquired by Grand Metropolitan (which, in 1997, became Diageo plc on its merger with Guinness). His mother, Margaret, was South African.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/14/south-africas-ageing-white-mercenaries-who-helped-turn-tide-on-boko-haram|title=South Africa's ageing white mercenaries who helped turn tide on Boko Haram|first=David|last=Smith|date=14 April 2015|via=www.theguardian.com}}

After leaving Eton College, Mann trained to be an officer at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Scots Guards on 16 December 1972.{{London Gazette|issue=45892|date=29 January 1973|page=1351 |supp=y }} By 1976, he held the rank of Lieutenant.{{London Gazette|issue=47083|date=7 December 1976|page=16439 |supp=y }} He later became a member of the SAS and served in Cyprus, Germany, Norway and Northern Ireland before leaving the forces in 1985. He volunteered as a reservist for the Gulf War.

Mann then entered the field of computer security; however, his interest in this industry lapsed when he returned from his service in the Gulf and he entered the oil industry to work with Tony Buckingham. Buckingham also had a military background and had been a diver in the North Sea oil industry before joining a Canadian oil firm. In 1993, UNITA rebels in Angola seized the port of Soyo, and closed its oil installations. The Angolan government under José Eduardo dos Santos sought mercenaries to seize back the port and asked for assistance from Buckingham who had by now formed his own company.{{cite web|date=November 2008|url=http://eebenbarlowsmilitaryandsecurityblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/perpetuating-disinformation.html|title=Perpetuating Disinformation|last=Barlow|first=Eeben|website=Eeben Barlow's Military and Security Blog}}

{{Main|Tim Spicer}}

Mann went on to establish Sandline International with fellow ex-Scots Guards Colonel Tim Spicer in 1996. The company operated mostly in Angola and Sierra Leone, but in 1997 Sandline received a commission from the government of Papua New Guinea to suppress a rebellion on the island of Bougainville and the company came to international prominence, but received much negative publicity following the Sandline affair. Sandline International announced the closure of the company's operations on 16 April 2004. In an interview on the Today Programme, Mann indicated that the operations in Angola had netted more than £10,000,000.{{cite news|title=The Today Programme, BBC Radio 4}}

{{main|2004 Equatorial Guinea coup attempt}}

On 7 March 2004, Mann and 69 others were arrested in Zimbabwe when their Boeing 727 was seized by security forces during a stop-off at Harare's airport to be loaded with £100,000 worth of weapons and equipment.{{Cite news |date=2008-07-07 |title=Profile: Simon Mann |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3916465.stm |access-date=2024-05-26 |language=en-GB}} The men were charged with violating the country's immigration, firearms and security laws and later accused of engaging in an attempt to stage a coup d'état in Equatorial Guinea.{{Cite news |date=2004-09-10 |title=Zimbabwe jails UK 'coup plotter' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3643250.stm |access-date=2024-05-26 |language=en-GB}} Meanwhile, fourteen suspected mercenaries, one of whom later died in prison, were detained in Equatorial Guinea in connection with the alleged plot.{{Cite web |date=2009-10-30 |title=Mercenaries Accused of Plotting to Overthrow Equatorial Guinea Government Sentenced in Zimbabwe – 2004-09-10 |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2004-09-10-29-1/293201.html |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=Voice of America |language=en}} Mann and the others claimed that they were not on their way to Equatorial Guinea but were in fact flying to the Democratic Republic of Congo to provide security for diamond mines. Mann and his colleagues were put on trial in Zimbabwe, and, on 27 August, Mann was found guilty of attempting to buy arms for an alleged coup plot and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.{{cite news|date=27 August 2004|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3605346.stm|title='Mercenary leader' found guilty|work=BBC News |accessdate=17 June 2008}} 66 of the others were acquitted.{{cite news|date=10 September 2004|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3643250.stm|title=Zimbabwe jails UK 'coup plotter'|work=BBC News |accessdate=17 June 2008}}

On 25 August 2004, Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested at his home in Cape Town, South Africa. He eventually pleaded guilty (under a plea bargain) to negligently supplying financial assistance for the plot.{{cite news|date=8 June 2008|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/c352689f-b387-4c99-aeff-579733847830 |title=Mark Thatcher: Man on the run|work=The Sunday Times|location=London|accessdate=17 June 2008|last=Russell Miller|quote=in January 2005 Thatcher pled guilty in South Africa, after a plea bargain, to "unwittingly" abetting the coup. He was fined 3 million rand (£266,000), given a suspended four-year jail term, and obliged to leave South Africa, his home for a decade.}} The 14 men in the mercenary advance guard that were caught in Equatorial Guinea were sentenced to jail for 34 years.{{cite news|date=26 November 2004|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4044305.stm|title=Coup plotters jailed in Equatorial Guinea|work=BBC News |accessdate=17 June 2008}}

Among the advance guard was Nick du Toit who claimed that he had been introduced to Thatcher by Mann. Investigations later revealed in Mann's holdings' financial records that large transfers of money were made to du Toit, as well as approximately US $2 million coming in from an unknown and untraceable source.{{Cite web |last=Amupadhi |first=Tangeni |date=2004-03-25 |title=We're not mercenaries, say Namibians detained in Zim |url=https://www.namibian.com.na/were-not-mercenaries-say-namibians-detained-in-zim/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=The Namibian |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=2024-05-27 |title=Old Etonian fingers ex-PM's son as major coup member |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/old-etonian-fingers-ex-pms-son-as-major-coup-member/AFPKEWMKPBFS4Q53EOKQ2CQURY/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}} On 10 September, Mann was sentenced to seven years in jail.{{Cite news |last=Staff |date=2004-09-10 |title=Simon Mann jailed for seven years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/10/equatorialguinea |access-date=2024-05-26 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} His compatriots received one-year sentences for violating immigration laws and their two pilots got 16 months. The group's Boeing 727 was seized, as well as the US$180,000 that was found on board the plane.{{cite news|date=27 January 2012|url=https://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/mann-tries-to-clear-his-name-1221871|title=Mann tries to clear his name|work=IOL|accessdate=16 May 2020}}

A friend of Mann, Nigel Morgan, who has ties to the South African Secret Service, was alleged to have betrayed his knowledge of the plot to the South African authorities.{{cite web |title=Scratcher's downfall |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/africa-travel/south-africa/scratchers-downfall-ptnjwv887wv |website=The Times |access-date=5 March 2020 |language=en |date=11 June 2006}} The journalist Adam Roberts has argued that Morgan was in the unusual situation of being both a supporter of the coup and also an agent for the government, and that Mann knew Morgan was acting as an informant, but as a way of sounding out whether or not the South African government would care.{{cite journal |last1=Fabricius |first1=Peter |title=The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa |journal=South African Journal of International Affairs |date=2006 |volume=13 |issue=2 |page=197}}

Academic R.W. Johnson, on the other hand, argued that only the 'shambolic state of the South African intelligence services' explains why an aborted 19 February attempt by Mann – which fell apart when a plane set to meet them in Zambia suffered a bird strike – was allowed to get off the ground in Polokwane Airport.{{cite journal |author1=R. W. Johnson |authorlink1=R. W. Johnson |title=Her Boy |journal=London Review of Books |date=16 November 2006 |volume=28 |issue=22 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n22/r.w.-johnson/her-boy |accessdate=5 March 2020 |language=en}} He emphasises that Morgan had personal and professional ties to Johann Smith, a South African Special Forces veteran and security adviser to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and most likely alerted President Thabo Mbeki after the failed first attempt, who in turn tipped off the government of Robert Mugabe.

Peter Fabricius, writing in the South African Journal of International Affairs, suggested that then President South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, once informed of Mann's plan, allowed the plotters to take off and then be caught on the tarmac in Zimbabwe, in order to make a public example of the Wonga coup and deter further mercenary activity.

On 23 February 2007, charges were dropped against Mann and the other alleged conspirators in South Africa. Mann remained in Zimbabwe, where he was convicted of charges from the same incident. On 2 May 2007, a Zimbabwe court ruled that Mann should be extradited to Equatorial Guinea to face charges, although the Zimbabweans promised that he would not face the death penalty. His extradition was described as the "oil for Mann" deal, in reference to the large amounts of oil that Mugabe has managed to secure from Equatorial Guinea. Mann lost his last appeal against the decision to extradite him.[http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1736 "Mann in the middle of two African dictators"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703233107/http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1736 |date=3 July 2007 }} Hugh Russell, The First Post, 2 May 2007. In a last-ditch effort on 30 January 2008, Mann tried to appeal the judgment to the Zimbabwean Supreme Court.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7219025.stm|title=BBC NEWS – Africa – Mann loses extradition appeal|date=31 January 2008 |accessdate=15 February 2015}} The following day, Mann was deported to Equatorial Guinea in secret, leading to claims by his lawyers that the extradition was hastened to defeat the possibility of appeal to the Supreme Court.{{cite news|date=1 February 2008|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7221948.stm|title=Zimbabwe deports Mann to Eq. Guinea|work=BBC News |accessdate=17 June 2008}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,2252532,00.html|title=Zimbabwe accused as Briton sent to Equatorial Guinea jail: Guardian Unlimited|work=The Guardian |location=London|accessdate=5 February 2008|last=David Pallister|date=5 February 2008}} In Equatorial Guinea Mann was incarcerated in Black Beach Prison, one of Africa's most notorious prisons and often viewed as synonymous with brutality.{{cite news|last=Birrell|first=Ian|date=22 October 2011|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/23/equatorial-guinea-africa-corruption-kleptocracy|title=The strange and evil world of Equatorial Guinea|work=The Guardian |location=London|accessdate=16 May 2020}}

Concern for Mann's plight was raised in the UK Parliament in the year of his arrest in Zimbabwe by three Conservative Members of Parliament.{{UK Parliament|date=18 March 2004|place=Debates|speaker=Henry Bellingham|column=449|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2004-03-18.449.0#g459.0|title=Business of the House}}{{UK Parliament|date=20 May 2004|place=Written answers|speaker=Peter Bottomley|column=1168W|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2004-05-20.173548.h|title=Foreign and Commonwealth affairs}}{{UK Parliament|date=9 December 2004|place=Written answers|speaker=Hugo Swire|column=730W|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2004-12-09a.201351.h|title=Foreign and Commonwealth affairs: Simon Mann}} During the two years after the government of Equatorial Guinea applied for his extradition, three further Conservative Party MPs submitted written questions.{{UK Parliament|date=5 June 2006|place=Written answers|speaker=Ben Wallace|column=317W|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-06-05e.74618.h|title=Foreign and Commonwealth affairs – Equatorial Guinea}}{{UK Parliament|date=14 December 2006|place=Written answers|speaker=James Arbuthnot|column=1302W|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-12-14d.109181.h|title=Foreign and Commonwealth affairs: Simon Mann}}{{UK Parliament|date=7 July 2007|place=Written answers|speaker=Geoffrey Clifton-Brown|column=1005W|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-07-03b.146858.h|title=Foreign and Commonwealth affairs: Simon Mann}}

The sudden extradition drew the greatest response. Julian Lewis said in Parliament: {{cquote|My constituent, Mr Simon Mann, has completed his jail sentence in Zimbabwe but has been transferred by the Mugabe regime to a potentially terrible fate in Equatorial Guinea, despite the fact that his appeals processes have not been completed and despite the assurances given to the British ambassador to Zimbabwe that would not happen. May we have a statement as soon as possible on the Floor of the House from the Foreign Secretary about what action is going to be taken? Quiet diplomacy has failed and we now have to save Mr Mann, whatever he has or has not done, from torture and a horrible death in a terrible situation.{{UK Parliament|date=7 February 2008|place=Debates|speaker=Julian Lewis|column=1134|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-02-07b.1123.0#g1134.4|title=Business of the House}}}}

That position was supported by three other Conservative MPs during the debate.{{UK Parliament|date=7 February 2008|place=Debates|speaker=John Whittingdale|column=1137|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-02-07b.1123.0#g1137.0|title=Business of the House}}{{UK Parliament|date=7 February 2008|place=Debates|speaker=Richard Benyon|column=1138|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-02-07b.1123.0#g1138.3|title=Business of the House}}{{UK Parliament|date=7 February 2008|place=Debates|speaker=Mark Harper|column=1139|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-02-07b.1123.0#g1139.1|title=Business of the House}} Written questions were submitted by a fourth.{{UK Parliament|date=18 February 2008|place=Written answers|speaker=Iain Duncan Smith|column=181W|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2008-02-18e.186481.h|title=Foreign and Commonwealth affairs – Simon Mann}}

There was a request that the United States administration, which had access to Simon Mann in Black Beach Prison on 6 February 2008, exert its influence "to secure [his] safe return".{{UK Parliament|date=18 February 2008|place=Written answers|speaker=Julian Lewis|column=180W|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2008-02-18e.185905.h|title=Foreign and Commonwealth affairs: Simon Mann}} UK officials were granted access to him on 12 February 2008.{{UK Parliament|date= 20 February 2008|place=Lords Written answers|speaker=Earl Cathcart|column=WA66|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2008-02-20a.66.0|title=House of Lords – Equatorial Guinea: Simon Mann}} Labour and other parties expressed little concern about Mann or the others.{{Cite web |date=2008-03-12 |title=Shackled Simon Mann names names |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2008-03-12-shackled-simon-mann-names/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} The only non-Conservative Party MP to submit a question in Parliament about him was Vince Cable,{{UK Parliament|date=21 February 2008|place=Written answers|speaker=Vince Cable|column=180W|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2008-02-21b.187341.h|title=Foreign and Commonwealth affairs: Equatorial Guinea: Prisoners}} although an Early Day Motion about his treatment in prison received some cross-party support.{{cite web|url=http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35742&SESSION=891|title=EDM: Conduct of Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea towards Simon Mann|date=6 May 2008|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=25 June 2008|archive-date=18 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618180715/http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35742&SESSION=891|url-status=dead}}

On 8 March 2008, Channel 4 in the UK won a legal battle to broadcast an interview with Mann in which he named British political figures, including Ministers, alleged to have given tacit approval to the coup plot.[http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/mann+i+was+not+the+main+man/1761247 "I was not the main man"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100126235025/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/mann+i+was+not+the+main+man/1761247 |date=26 January 2010 }}, Jonathan Miller, Channel 4, 11 March 2008. In testimony, he spoke frankly about the events leading to the botched attempt to topple Equatorial Guinea's president.

Despite their charges being unrelated, Mann was tried alongside six Progress Party of Equatorial Guinea activists being held on weapons charges, including opposition leader Severo Moto's former secretary Gerardo Angüe Mangue.{{cite web|url=http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/africa/equatorial-guinea|title=Equatorial Guinea|publisher=Amnesty International|accessdate=19 January 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217101806/http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/africa/equatorial-guinea|archivedate=17 December 2010}} On 7 July 2008, Mann was sentenced by an Equatoguinean court to more than 34 years in prison.

On 2 November 2009, he was given "a complete pardon on humanitarian grounds" by President Obiang. He lives in New Forest.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-homecoming-of-simon-mann-1814181.html|title=The homecoming of Simon Mann|date=2009-11-04|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-04-18|language=en-GB}}

In 2024, Mann provided The Daily Telegraph with access to emails and unpublished memoirs providing additional information. On the 20th anniversary of the coup attempt, the newspaper published an article on the coup.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/07/thatcher-son-involvement-in-wonga-coup-guinea-mann/ |title=The unseen memoirs that reveal Mark Thatcher's true involvement in the 'Wonga coup' |last1=Hollingsworth |first1=Mark |last2=Rayner |first2=Gordon |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url-access=subscription |date=7 March 2024 |access-date=7 March 2024}}

• In 2002, Mann played Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Wilford of the Parachute Regiment for Granada Television's Bloody Sunday, a dramatisation by Paul Greengrass of the events of Bloody Sunday.{{cite web |url= https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1115931/| title= Simon Mann |work= IMDb.com |accessdate=15 February 2015}}
• The alleged coup planned for Equatorial Guinea is the subject of the film Coup!, written by John Fortune. Mann is played by Jared Harris, with Robert Bathurst as Mark Thatcher. It was broadcast on BBC Two on 30 June 2006 and on ABC in Australia on 21 January 2008.{{cite web| date= 30 June 2006 |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/coup|title=BBC Drama – Coup!|publisher=BBC|accessdate=17 June 2008}}
• Mann was interviewed from prison in the documentary Once Upon A Coup, which aired on PBS's Wide Angle in August 2009.{{Cite web |date=2009-11-07 |title=West Africa Coup Plotter Lands in Britain |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2009-11-04-voa35/414557.html |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=ernsta |date=2009-08-27 |title=Once Upon a Coup ~ Full Episode {{!}} Wide Angle {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/video/watch-full-episodes/once-upon-a-coup-full-episode/5496/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=Wide Angle}}

Mann's memoir, Cry Havoc, was published in 2011, to mixed reviews.Tim Butcher, Daily Telegraph, 7 November 2011.Anthony Mockler, The Spectator, 26 November 2011.

• Executive Outcomes
• Mark Thatcher
• Sandline International

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Robert Young Pelton|authorlink=Robert Young Pelton|title=Three Worlds Gone Mad: Dangerous Journeys through the War Zones of Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific|edition= First edition (1 December 2003)|publisher=The Lyons Press|isbn=1-59228-100-1|page=320|year=2003}} – covers the birth and rise of Executive Outcomes and Sandline, as well as the events in Sierra Leone and Bougainville
• {{cite book|author=Adam Roberts|title=The Wonga Coup, Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa|publisher=Public Affairs|year=2006|isbn=978-1-58648-371-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/wongacoupgunsthu00robe}}
• {{cite book|last=Mark Blaisse|title=Reconstruction of the international plot against Equatorial Guinea|publisher=PREG Publications|year=2011}}
• {{cite book|last=Robert Young Pelton|authorlink=Robert Young Pelton|title=Licensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror|edition= First edition (August 2006|publisher=Random House}} – Documents Pelton's time with Nick Du Toit, the planning behind the coup, his efforts to free Nick by meeting with President Obiang and Mann's arrival from Zimbabwe

• Once Upon a Coup, PBS Documentary, August 2009, [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/once-upon-a-coup/full-episode/?p=5496 Once Upon a Coup ~ Full Episode | Wide Angle | PBS]

{{wikiquote}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3916465.stm Profile: Simon Mann], BBC News, 10 September 2004
• [http://oraclesyndicate.twoday.net/search?q=simon+mann&submit=go Simon Mann Dossier], by Journalismus Nachrichten von Heute
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3597450.stm Q&A: Equatorial Guinea coup plot], BBC World News
• [http://www.oraclesyndicate.twoday.net/stories/2534432/ "A Coup for a Mountain of Wonga"]
• [http://www.oraclesyndicate.twoday.net/stories/3337634/ "British Mercenary Simon Mann's last Journey?"]
• [http://oraclesyndicate.twoday.net/stories/5007420/ "The trial of Simon Mann"]
• {{IMDb name|id=1115931|name=Simon Mann}}

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Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century British Army personnel

Category:21st-century English memoirists

Category:Military personnel from Aldershot

Category:Scots Guards officers

Category:Special Air Service officers

Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Category:People educated at Eton College

Category:Prisoners and detainees of Zimbabwe

Category:British people imprisoned abroad

Category:Prisoners and detainees of Equatorial Guinea

Category:Recipients of Equatoguinean presidential pardons

Category:English mercenaries

Category:People extradited from Zimbabwe

Category:People extradited to Equatorial Guinea

Category:People from New Forest District

Category:Businesspeople from Aldershot

Category:English people of South African descent