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 Who's who in the alleged coup
    August 29 2004 at 01:54PM Get IOL on your
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Here is a list of key figures named in court or in the media in the alleged plot to stage a putsch in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.

The drama has led to the arrest of Margaret Thatcher's son and the trial of dozens of suspected mercenaries in Harare and Malabo.


Jeffrey Archer
Best-selling novelist and disgraced former deputy chairman of Britain's Conservative party. Named in several British newspapers as allegedly having paid tens of thousands of pounds to Simon Mann. Denies knowledge of any coup plot.

Long-standing friend of Ely Calil.


Ely Calil
Widely named in the media as the alleged main financial backer of the plot against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Denies involvement.
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A London-based oil tycoon of Lebanese origin, Calil reportedly introduced Simon Mann to Equatorial Guinean opposition leader Severo Moto, asking him to accompany Moto back to Malabo during a planned coup attempt.


Nick du Toit
Alleged South African ringleader of a group of coup-plotters now on trial in the Equatorial Guinean capital Malabo. The prosecution has called for the death sentence against him.

He told the court in Malabo he was recruited by Simon Mann but had a limited logistical role in the alleged plot. He said he was told the plotters were aiming to install Severo Moto as president.

Du Toit is a former member of the South African army's elite Special Task Forces unit and worked alongside Mann in a mercenary outfit in Angola and Sierra Leone.


James Kershaw
Named in court by arrested alleged mercenaries as one of the recruiters in the alleged coup attempt.

The 24-year-old South African computer expert and alleged coup accountant reportedly handed the so-called "Wonga list" -- of wealthy individuals who bankrolled the coup plot -- to South African authorities.


Simon Mann
Alleged mastermind of the coup plot.

Educated at one of Britain's top private schools and a former member of the crack SAS military unit, Mann was convicted Friday in Zimbabwe of trying to buy weapons for the alleged coup plot. He faces up to 10 years in jail.

His lawyers say he and 69 men detained with him in Zimbabwe, where they were arrested in March when their plane stopped over to pick up arms, were on their way to provide security at diamond mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mann and Nick du Toit, held as a co-conspirator in Equatorial Guinea, were members of a now-defunct mercenary group in Sierra Leone and Angola.


Severo Moto
Accused by the government in Malabo of being the instigator of the alleged coup. Denies involvement.

Moto is president of the self-proclaimed Equatorial Guinean government-in-exile based in Spain, the former colonial power.

Media reports say he was flown to neighbouring Mali on the eve of the planned coup, in preparation for his unveiling as Equatorial Guinea's new leader.


President Teodoro Obiang Nguema
Has ruled Equatorial Guinea since 1979 when he overthrew his uncle and had him executed.

His government has been described by several human rights groups as among the worst abusers of human rights in Africa.

The tiny west African country has grown to become the continent's third largest exporter of oil, but despite the new-found wealth most of its 500,000 inhabitants still live in abject poverty.


Sir Mark Thatcher
An alleged financier of the coup plot. Denies involvement.

The son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is under house arrest in South Africa on suspicion of bankrolling the putsch plot. He is a friend and Cape Town neighbour of Simon Mann.

Although no wrongdoing has ever been proven, Thatcher has repeatedly been accused of cashing in on his mother's position, such as reportedly pocketing a large commission over the sale of British jets to Saudi Arabia, a deal signed by his mother.

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