Mann may settle old scores

2009-11-05 09:08

In this video image British coup-plotter Simon Mann, talks to reporters in a courtroom following his pardon by the government in Equatorial Guinea. (AP)

By Michelle Faul

Johannesburg - British mercenary Simon Mann has threatened to settle some old scores after arriving home following more than five years in African jails for a failed plot to take over Equatorial Guinea's oil riches.

Some governments may be worried about a vengeful Mann: He testified last year that the US and European governments knew of the 2004 plot in advance and welcomed it, as did international oil companies operating in the small West African nation.

Analysts say that in addition to revenge, Mann's mission probably is part of the deal that won him freedom - to bring to justice the influential financiers who dreamed up the adventure that went so badly awry in the continent's No 3 oil producer.

Mann left Malabo, Equatorial Guinea's island capital, early on Wednesday after serving 15 months of a 34-year sentence; he'd already done three years in Zimbabwe's maximum security prison. He and four South African mercenaries also pardoned on Tuesday had been given 24 hours to leave and can never return.

Mann did not speak to reporters upon his arrival in Britain. But his spokesperson, Ian Monk, said Mann was "hugely grateful" to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for the pardon. He said his first priority was to reunite with his family, including a son born after his arrest.

In his trial last year, Mann testified that Mark Thatcher, son of former British Premier Margaret Thatcher, had provided $350 000 that was used to buy a small plane that was to transport Equatorial Guinea's exiled opposition leader Severo Moto from Madrid to Malabo.

- SAPA