African dictator to sue Thatcher

The dictator of Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang, is launching an appeal in his case against the plotters of the failed mercenary coup attempt against him in 2004.

[Mark Thatcher’s] prospects of finding a refuge could be jeopardised if lawyers for President Obiang win the right to sue a number of UK-based businessmen whom he accuses of funding the gunmen who planned to assassinate him. President Obiang has reportedly drawn up a list of names of wealthy Britons who he alleges were involved in bankrolling the coup.

Among them is Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare, the disgraced former Tory party deputy chairman, who, investigators claim, received a number of phone calls from the key financier of the coup attempt, planned for March 2004. (Sunday Times)

Many of those arrested in Zimbabwe in connection with the coup attempt have been released and are now facing a trial in South Africa.

Their trial has been set down for July 31 to August 4, August 7 to August 11, and August 21 to August 25.

Raymond Archer, Victor Dracula, Louis du Preez, Errol Harris, Mazanga Kashama, Neves Matias, Maitre Ruakuluka, Simon Witherspoon and Hendrik Jacobus Hamman are accused of contravening the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act. (iafrica.com)


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

2 responses to “African dictator to sue Thatcher”

  1. Northern Sole avatar

    I’m reminded of a recently repeated episode of “Have I got news for you!” in which Ian Hislop found the prospect of Thatcher & co. going to jail quite amusing. He described it as a bunch of overexcited public schoolboys trying to overthrow an African dictator. He then jokingly added the point that this just was wasn’t on, saying something to the effect of “I mean you can’t just go into someone else’s country and get the rid of the leader. [Pause for comic effect] Oh, wait a minute, yes you can!”

  2. Tom Griffin avatar

    You can certainly see where they got the idea for overthrowing an oil-rich dictatorship from, can’t you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *