Minister named in coup plot

2008-06-15 14:30

Malabo - A minister from Equatorial Guinea has been accused of involvement in the 2004 coup attempt there for which mercenary Simon Mann faces trial, a judicial source told AFP Saturday.

Fortunato Ofa Mbo, the Secretary General to the Government Presidency, was accused of having kept secret the information he had on a businessman's bid to destabilise the country, said the source who wished to remain anonymous.

Ofa Mbo, who at the time was the fisheries minister, had allegedly helped the work of Ely Calil, a Nigerian-born Lebanese businessman, said the source.

Ofa Mbo has not been arrested, said the same source.

The trial of British mercenary Simon Mann is due to start on Tuesday and is expected to last two days.

Mann, who was educated at England's elite private school Eton and served in Britain's Special Air Services (SAS), was secretly extradited from Zimbabwe in January.

He had been arrested there in 2004 with 61 alleged accomplices when their plane touched down in Harare on route to Equatorial Guinea.

The authorities there accused them of trying to pick up arms before teaming up with a team led by a South African, Nick du Toit. Du Toit has since been jailed for 34 years in Equatorial Guinea.

In an interview with Britain's Channel 4 News from his prison cell in Malabo, Mann acknowledged having been involved in the coup plot but said that he had not been the mastermind.

He accused Spain, South Africa and named Ely Calil as having been involved.

Equatorial Guinea has also issued an international arrest warrant for former British premier Margaret Thatcher's son Mark, accusing him of having been one of those behind the plot.

Equatorial Guinea's hardline President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has ruled the country since he overthrew his own uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, in 1979.

In last month's parliamentary election, the president's ruling party and his allies obtained 99 of 100 seats in elections, according to the official results.

- AFP