By Jane Flanagan in Johannesburg

Sir Mark Thatcher “knew nothing” of any alleged plot to overthrow the President of Equatorial Guinea, his friend Simon Mann has said in his first communication with the outside world since he pleaded guilty to weapons charges in Zimbabwe. Mann, who is in prison awaiting sentence this week for attempting to buy weapons illegally, has told friends he was certain Sir Mark would be cleared of allegations that he helped bankroll an attempted coup in the oil-rich African state. The former SAS officer – who denies knowledge of or involvement in an attempted coup – said he had been “extremely upset” to hear of Sir Mark’s arrest 11 days ago and was convinced his friend would never knowingly have become involved in such a plot. Sir Mark’s name became linked to the ill-fated mission to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in the “Scratcher and Smelly” letter – written by Mann from Harare’s notorious Chikurubi prison – which was leaked to the press. Now Mann has told friends: “Mark and I were neighbours in Cape Town and I can’t imagine for a moment that he would ever find himself caught up in a business like that. There was nothing that came out of our many discussions that suggested it even for a moment.” Mann, 51, is said to be distressed that his own arrest and subsequent letter in which he appealed for financial help for himself and his co-accused, has invited trouble for his friends, including Sir Mark and David Hart, a one-time adviser to Baroness Thatcher.

Mr Hart, a well-connected “trouble-shooter” and trusted family friend, has been offering assistance to Mann’s second wife, Amanda, in recent weeks. She is due to give birth to Mann’s seventh child in 10 days’ time. Mann’s arrest was linked by authorities in Equatorial Guinea to a planned coup attempt in that country, one of Africa’s richest and most repressive regimes. He was seized by Zimbabwean police as he met a plane carrying dozens of men, which landed in Harare to collect weapons. Mann maintains that he and the 69 men on board had been hired to carry out security work at a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A second group of men were arrested in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s island capital, at about the same time. Authorities in the tiny West African state have implicated Mann and his men in a planned strike against President Obiang, who himself came to power in a coup. Nick Du Toit, who is on trial in Equatorial Guinea accused of leading the advance team of mercenaries, named Sir Mark as a backer of the coup in a statement which prompted his arrest. Sir Mark is involved in an air ambulance service called Triple A Aviation which signed a contract to supply aircraft and aviation services to Logo Logistics, a firm owned by Mann. He has insisted to South African authorities that this meant only the supply of an air ambulance.

From The Sunday Telegraph (UK), 5 September
Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com