Mark Thatcher part of Eq. Guinea plot, court told

By Daniel Flynn

MALABO (Reuters) - The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a leader of a 2004 coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea that was backed by Spain and South Africa, a British mercenary told a court on Wednesday.

Former special forces officer Simon Mann testified that Mark Thatcher was "not just an investor" in the plot to oust Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has ruled the West African state since 1979.

Mann, one of the defendants in the coup trial, identified Thatcher as one of a five-man group headed by London-based Lebanese millionaire Eli Calil, whom he said masterminded and bankrolled the conspiracy.

"He (Thatcher) came on board completely and became part of the management team," Mann told the court in the island capital.

He added Thatcher invested some $350,000 in the March 2004 operation, which was foiled when authorities in Zimbabwe arrested Mann and 70 mercenaries at Harare airport en route to Equatorial Guinea aboard a Boeing 727.

Public Prosecutor Jose Olo Obono told Reuters the next step after the trial, likely to end next week, was to seek the extradition of Thatcher and Calil. Both men deny involvement.

Mann, 56, said the governments of South Africa and former colonial power Spain knew and approved of the conspiracy to replace Obiang with exiled opposition leader Severo Moto.

Spain's Foreign Ministry quickly issued a denial.

In the first day of Mann's trial on Tuesday, prosecutors asked the court to jail him for nearly 32 years for his role in the conspiracy. His defense lawyer said he was an "instrument", not a ringleader, and called for a shorter sentence.

"All of this was going on under Eli Calil's control. He was the boss," Mann, looking gaunt in his grey prison uniform, told the courtroom, which was guarded by heavily-armed soldiers.

"I am very, very sorry for what I have done. I am also very happy that we failed," said Mann, who was educated at exclusive private school Eton, where Britain's Princes Williams and Harry were later students. Mann has said he hopes for clemency from Obiang after already serving a four year jail term in Zimbabwe.

"The people that were seriously involved in this and have not faced justice, they should do so."

Mark Thatcher, arrested in 2004 by South African police, said he thought he was financing an air ambulance service. He was released after pleading guilty to breaking South Africa's anti-mercenary laws and he paid a $450,000 fine.

"GREEN LIGHT" FROM SPAIN, SOUTH AFRICA

Mann testified on Wednesday that during a series of meetings in Madrid in 2003 with Calil and Moto, the Lebanese businessmen had assured him the coup had the support of the centre-right government of Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar.