Margaret Thatcher's Son Charged with Financing a Coup Plot in Equatorial Guinea
Sunday, November 21, 2004 at 02:27AM
TheSpook
Equatorial Guinea prosecutors confirmed Thursday they have charged Mark
Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in an
alleged coup plot in the oil-rich west African nation. Thatcher is
accused of having helped finance the coup attempt, Attorney General
Jose Olo Obono said. Thatcher was added to the existing list of 19
other defendants, all accused mercenaries, on Tuesday, Obono said.
Equatorial Guinea intends to seek Thatcher's extradition, a legal
official close to the government's case told The Associated Press
earlier this week. Equatorial Guinea alleges Thatcher and other, mainly
British financiers, worked with Equatorial Guinea opposition figures,
scores of South African mercenaries, and six Armenian pilots in a
takeover plot here. The coup plotters intended to force out the 25-year
regime of President Teodoro Obiang, installing an exiled opposition
figure in his stead as a figurehead leader for Africa's No. 3 oil
producer, Equatorial Guinea claims. The alleged plot was exposed in
March by South African intelligence services, and scores of accused
mercenaries arrested here and in Zimbabwe. [more]
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