Witness says Thatcher had role in coup plot

[emad]

Jamie Wilson and David Leigh
Monday January 3, 2005
The Guardian

The star witness against Sir Mark Thatcher has revealed the most detailed allegations yet of his role in a West African coup attempt, including claims that he helped test a helicopter for the operation.
Coup pilot Crause Steyl, in a plea-bargain in South Africa, has testified to a hitherto unknown string of meetings involving Sir Mark as an "investor".

This development comes as Simon Mann, the jailed former SAS officer alleged to have masterminded the coup attempt in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, has launched a vigorous counterattack against his accusers, claiming he was tortured into confessing to a role in the plot.

Mann, who was jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe in November on charges connected to the coup attempt, attempted to exonerate Sir Mark from any involvement in the botched plot in an affidavit drawn up by his lawyers and seen by the Guardian.

But Mr Steyl, a South African pilot convicted last month of violating South Africa's foreign military assistance act, has agreed to testify against Sir Mark in South Africa in return for escaping a hefty jail term.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1382459,00.html

[AP]

1. Don't start that talking...

I could talk all night
My mind is sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right

Call careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation?

Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today

There was a checkpoint Charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile

Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white nigger

(Chorus)

Hong Kong is up for grabs
London is full of Arabs
We could be in Palestine
Overrun by a Chinese line
With the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne

But there's no danger
It's a professional career
Though it could be arranged
With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear

If you're out of luck or out of work
We could send you to Johannesburg

Oliver's army is here to stay,
Oliver's army are on their way,
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today,
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today,
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today,
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh ...

[achtung_circus]

2. Ineresting stuff here by Gwynne Dyer.

<http://www.gwynnedyer.net/articles/Gwynne%20Dyer%20article_%20%20Splodge%20of%20Wonga.txt>

Large Splodge of Wonga

By Gwynne Dyer
snips
"Simon Mann, heir to the Watney's beer fortune, graduate of Eton and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, former co-founder of Executive Outcomes, a leading mercenary outfit in Africa in the 90s, currently resident at Chikurubi maximum security prison in Harare, Zimbabwe, believes that "a large splodge of wonga" (a large amount of money) would spare him most of the seven-year term to which he was sentenced last Friday. A number of his co-conspirators apparently believe the same. They just don't get it."



"Among the alleged investors in the syndicate is Sir Mark Thatcher,son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose advisers encouraged him to move to the United States when his Middle Eastern business ventures trading on her name threatened to embarrass her. He moved on to South Africa in 1995 amid a number of investigations into his business activities in Texas, and was in the process of bailing out again and moving his family back to Texas when South African police arrested him last week."

[emad]

3. Star witness says Thatcher funded and tested helicopter

Star witness says Thatcher funded and tested helicopter for Equatorial Guinea plot

South African pilot seeks deal to give evidence and avoid long jail term

Jamie Wilson and David Leigh
Monday January 3, 2005
The Guardian

Sir Mark Thatcher must have been hoping this year would be better than the last. But with his trial for allegedly breaking South Africa's anti-mercenary laws - maximum sentence 15 years - and with a number of former associates apparently lining up to give evidence against him, the signs are not looking good.
The Guardian has learned that the star witness against Sir Mark has revealed the most detailed allegations yet of his role in a west African coup attempt, including a series of hitherto unknown meetings in which the son of the former British prime minister, Lady Thatcher, is described as an "investor".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1382321,00.html

[Benhurst]

4. That settles it. Off with his head!