Intelligence

US was told of Thatcher ‘coup plot’

Times Online

Nicholas Rufford, Tom Walker and Dean Nelson
Cape Town
THE Pentagon and MI6 were warned in advance about the prospect of the African coup attempt which led to the arrest of Sir Mark Thatcher.

The American defence department was tipped off by Greg Wales, a British businessman named in legal papers as one of the ringleaders behind the plot.
Two weeks before the plan swung into action, he met a senior Pentagon official in Washington and told her that the situation in Equatorial Guinea had become “dangerous” and to expect trouble.
This weekend the official confirmed that the conversation had taken place, and the subsequent coup attempt tallied with the warning. The alleged plot failed when a group of mercenary soldiers were arrested in Zimbabwe while trying to collect a cargo of machineguns, mortars and other weapons at Harare airport in March.
Those at the centre of the affair say Washington wanted the overthrow of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has been blamed for human rights abuses.
During earlier trips to the American capital, Wales, who worked for Simon Mann, the alleged coup leader, met a CIA analyst and representatives from the Africa section of the US State Department. Wales participated with government officials in private think tanks that had discussed the possibility that Obiang could be arrested for money laundering or human rights violations.
“The State Department was under increasing pressure because of Obiang’s reputation to impose penalties on Equatorial Guinea which would have damaged American oil interests,” Wales said.
Earlier this year the State Department put Equatorial Guinea on notice of sanctions after it was named in an official report as one of the world’s worst offenders for human trafficking.
MI6 also knew in advance of a conspiracy to overthrow Obiang “through diplomatic channels”, according to a British official. However, the Foreign Office said publicly that it had no advance knowledge of any coup attempt.
Mann was found guilty last Friday by a magistrate in Zimbabwe of attempting to buy weapons illegally. Mann’s coaccused, a group of 66 men he recruited for the operation, were acquitted of weapons charges under Zimbabwe’s tough security laws. Two of the men who returned yesterday to South Africa said they had been tortured while imprisoned.
Thatcher was arrested last Wednesday by South African police. Prosecutors claim they have receipts from Thatcher to show that he invested $275,000 to fund the logistics of the coup attempt and that he had bought a helicopter gunship. Thatcher has denied the charges.
Sipho Ngwema, spokesman for the Scorpions unit of the police, said: “Thatcher definitely knew the money was for a coup. There was $275,000 in two payments. There were specific instructions and specific meetings which led to the purchase of logistical material they needed for the coup. It is not a vague connection.
“Some of the material we picked up in the raid has assisted us in this. There are invoices from various transactions to him and receipts. It’s clear that there is a direct link. We took his computer and are downloading it now. There is also written material above and beyond the receipts.

“There is no doubt about his connection with Simon Mann. He is not a passive investor, he was an active participant and he was in constant contact with what was happening. He was a direct investor in a short-termproject. His correspondence was with the coup organisers.”
Had the coup succeeded, the plotters would have become rich through Equatorial Guinea’s “black gold”. Each would have stood to have made millions of pounds, industry analysts say.
Since the botched coup, the Pentagon has announced plans for a show of naval strength in the Gulf of Guinea. A US navy battle group may be sent to waters near Equatorial Guinea as part of a wider military exercise.
Equatorial Guinea is of increasing strategic interest to the United States. The country is sub-Saharan Africa’s third biggest oil producer, pumping 330,000 barrels a day, and with oil prices topping the political agenda in Washington, officials are anxious to increase sources of supply outside the Middle East.
Severo Moto, 60, the opposition leader in exile who has been linked to the coup plot, flew to Washington in 2002 where his backers had hired a lobbying firm to promote him as the future leader of the government in exile. Moto is said to have met Charles Snyder, a senior official in the African affairs bureau at the State Department, and other senior officials.
A State Department official said he had not been briefed and had no comment on whether a warning of the coup had been received. Wales denies involvement in the coup plot.
There are other indications that the plot — which has been widely portrayed as a hamfisted attempt by a band of mercenaries to seize power in an oil-rich state — had wider backing. Moto had contacts with the government of Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, according to Spanish media reports. Sources say that Spain was planning to issue an international warrant for Obiang’s arrest.
According to one account, Obiang was to have been detained at the request of Spanish authorities while he was travelling. Had the plan succeeded it would have been an almost carbon copy of the arrest of General Pinochet, the former Chilean leader. Pinochet was arrested while in London for medical treatment on a warrant issued by a Spanish judge. Pinochet was accused of presiding over political killings and torture while he was head of state.
Obiang flew frequently to Rabat in Morocco where he is said to have been receiving treatment for cancer. One trip that he made to Morocco in April coincided with the timing of the intended coup, had the mercenaries not been intercepted.
Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa’s intelligence minister, is reported as having said that the alleged conspiracy to overthrow Obiang was infiltrated at an early stage by South African intelligence. Three agents were reported to have been among those held when Mann’s USregistered plane landed at Harare to pick up weapons.

August 29, 2004 at 10:31 PM in MI6 | Permalink | TrackBack (103) | Top of page | Blog Home