There are soldiers on the streets of Equatorial Guinea’s steamy little capital, patrol vessels cruising offshore, and extra checks at entry points.

The whole country has been placed on high alert before this morning’s opening of the trial of Simon Mann, the Old Etonian mercenary accused of attempting to overthrow the President of this tiny African state in 2004 to gain control of its fabulous oil riches.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled with an iron fist for 30 years, insists that such measures are entirely warranted.

In a rare interview with British journalists yesterday he added to the sense that the whole extraordinary story had been written by Frederick Forsyth or Graham Greene by saying that his Government had learnt of a plot to “silence” Mr Mann.

He said that Mr Mann, incarcerated in Malabo’s infamous Black Beach prison since February, had been giving his investigators valuable information about the plot “on a daily basis”.

He accused Ely Calil, the reclusive Lebanese tycoon who lives in London and allegedly financed the failed coup, of “trying his very best to ensure that he either kills Simon Mann in prison or kidnaps him from prison to silence him”.

He went farther, saying that he also suspected — but could not prove — that the British, American and Spanish governments were also involved in the attempted coup.

All three nations had powerful intelligence services, he said, but none gave his administration even a hint of what was being planned.

Nothing, therefore, is being left to chance in this tiny West African country renowned for its paranoia.

Mr Obiang said that Mr Mann had special guards in prison and his food was checked before he ate it.

The location of the trial — a conference centre — was disclosed only last night. Western journalists have been told that they will not be allowed into the court with shoes, long-sleeved shirts, watches or pens.

“Today there are all sorts of sophisticated gadgets and weaponry which can easily pass undetected,” said Mr Obiang.

The Government had even wanted to surround Mr Mann with bullet-proof screens, but could not install them in time.

Mr Mann, 55, was arrested at Harare airport in March 2004 when his plane landed in Zimbabwe to collect a consignment of weapons en route from South Africa to Malabo.

On board were nearly 70 mercenaries whose task, allegedly, was to replace Mr Obiang with Severo Moto Nsa, an Equatoguinean opposition leader living in Madrid.

Equatorial Guinea has the third- largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa, making it a valuable prize.

Mr Mann served three years in Zimbabwe’s Chikurubi prison, in Harare, but on his release was spirited across Africa to Equatorial Guinea.

Mr Obiang insisted yesterday that all proper legal processes had been followed to secure his extradition, and strongly denied allegations that Robert Mugabe’s impoverished regime had handed him over in return for cheap oil.

Equatoguinean officials insist that the trial will be free, fair and transparent.

They say that an African Union judge and human rights groups such as Amnesty International have been invited to observe. A British diplomat will also be present.

But the chances of Mr Mann being acquitted are about as great as of it snowing in Malabo.

In a separate interview on Channel 4 last night, Mr Obiang called him a “criminal bastard” — and what Mr Obiang says tends to go in Equatorial Guinea. In elections last month his ruling party won 99 out of 100 parliamentary seats.

Other Equatoguinean officials point out that Mr Mann confessed his guilt in a Channel 4 interview in February. Last week his defence lawyer was unceremoniously stripped of his right to practise in the country.

There are other aspects of the trial that strike outsiders as strange. Channel 4 was offered exclusive rights to televise the proceedings for £50,000. It refused.

Other journalists have been offered the chance to buy sensitive documents that are likely to form a key part of the prosecution’s case.

Despite that, Equatorial Guinea — long regarded as one of the world’s most corrupt and repressive countries — appears anxious to use the trial to improve its public image, and Mr Obiang appeared to rule out the death penalty when he said that his country wanted to abide by international standards.

He accepted that Mr Mann was the “executioner”, not the mastermind, of the coup plot, and suggested he might receive a lenient sentence in return for his co-operation — “There might be some clemency shown at the end of the case”. Nor did he rule out the possibility of Mr Mann serving some of the sentence in Britain, saying that it would be a matter for negotiation between the two governments.

Mr Obiang, 66, and sporting a gold Rolex watch, reserved his greatest venom for Mr Calil and Sir Mark Thatcher, the former Prime Minister’s son, who was fined £266,000 by a South African court and given a four-year suspended sentence for “unwittingly” financing a helicopter that was to have been used in the coup. Mr Obiang accused Mr Calil of plotting similiar coups in other countries but claimed that in Equatorial Guinea he had “met his Waterloo”.

He said that Sir Mark was “known as a dirty player who lives his life getting himself involved in all sorts of dubious deals that are of benefit to himself . . . Mark Thatcher quickly jumped into this boat and became part and parcel of this plot”.

Equatorial Guinea has issued an international arrest warrant against Sir Mark, who now lives in a secure gated estate in the mountains of southern Spain with his new wife.

Mr Mann, his old friend, meanwhile languishes in Black Beach prison, which is infamous for torturing, starving and ill-treating prisoners, and he is likely to stay there for a long time yet.

Fortunately, said Mr Obiang, it had been greatly improved in recent years and was now “the best prison in the whole of Africa”.

Indeed, it was “like a five-star hotel”.

The plot and the arrests

March 2004 US-registered cargo plane seized in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, carrying 66 suspected mercenaries and military equipment. A total of 70 people were charged with conspiring to murder Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the Equatorial Guinean President

July Mr Mann accused of leading them. Pleads guilty to firearms charges

August Sir Mark Thatcher arrested on suspicion of involvement in the plot. Mr Mann found guilty in Zimbabwe of arms charges. Jailed for seven years

November Equatorial Guinea court convicts 11 foreigners on charges relating to the plot. Nick Du Toit, a South African, is jailed for 34 years

January 2005 In South Africa, Sir Mark pleads guilty to involvement. Receives a four-year suspended sentence and a three-million rand fine

May Zimbabwe agrees to extradite Mr Mann to Equatorial Guinea

January 2008 Having lost an appeal against extradition, Mr Mann is deported to face charges in Equatorial Guinea of plotting a coup

March Admits plotting “swashbuckling” scheme to oust President Obiang. According to Guinean public prosecutor, also implicates Sir Mark in the scheme

June Equatorial Guinea announces start of trial today

Source: Times archives

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