The Great Cat Massacre by Gareth Rubin

Author:Gareth Rubin [Gareth Rubin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781784180669
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2014-11-18T16:00:00+00:00

THE WORLD’S WORST CODE – THE DOGS OF WAR TRIAL, 2004

Question: According to the CIA World Factbook, which African country has the highest Gross National Product per person?

Answer: Equatorial Guinea.

For those who did not even know there was somewhere called Equatorial Guinea in the first place, it must come as a real shock to know the inhabitants are some of the richest people in the world. Well, up to a point, anyway.

Equatorial Guinea is an oil-and gas-rich brutal African dictatorship where most of the 500,000-strong population desperately trying to find enough food to eat each day probably have no idea that they are all millionaires. One person perfectly aware of the nation’s wealth is President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who seized power from his uncle in a military coup in 1979. It must have been quite a day when massive oil and gas fields were discovered in Equatorial Guinea’s waters, propelling the country up the international wealth list overnight. But, as every African dictator knows, one thing that tends to follow a sudden expansion of your bank account is an expansion in the number of people who want to shoot you.

In 2004 it turned out that the latest group of people attempting to depose Obiang in a very direct manner were a group of foreign professionals – i.e. mercenaries. They were led by an Old Etonian former SAS officer, Simon Mann, who was then working in South Africa.

On 7 March 2004 a plane landed in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. The passengers were 64 mercenaries, most of whom had fought in the civil wars that had rampaged through Mozambique and Angola. They were stopping off in Harare to pick up weapons and ammunition arranged by Mann, who was already there. From there, they were to fly to the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, where they would join an advance team of 15, who were already there. They would then infiltrate Obiang’s home and either fly him to exile in Spain or simply blow his brains out, depending on how pleasant he was. Behind them was an opposition leader, Severo Moto, who would declare himself president and no doubt bring in an era of peace and prosperity for all, without any more of the corruption and systematic embezzlement that had characterised Obiang’s murderous regime.

Sadly for those concerned, the coup was scuppered before it had even begun when the Zimbabwean police arrested everyone upon arrival in Harare. The problem was that plans for military coups in Africa tend to be common knowledge – even if most of the people involved are professionals who keep their lips sealed, there’s always one who boasts about it at the local bar or brothel. Not only was Obiang aware of the scheme, having been tipped off by the South African security service, the Scorpions, but Zimbabwean security was also on the case because they had become suspicious of Mann’s attempts to buy arms in the country.

So, when the passengers of the plane were arrested on immigration charges, Mann was also seized.

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