Obiang: 'Mann's a criminal bastard'
Updated on 16 June 2008
Equatorial Guinea's President Obiang talks on the eve of Simon Mann's trial on a charge of plotting to overthrow the government there.
Simon Mann, the old Etonian mercenary accused of plotting the "wonga coup" against the president of Equatorial Guinea in 2004, will go on trial in the tiny oil-rich West African nation tomorrow.
In an exclusive eve of trial interview with Channel 4 News, the target of the alleged coup plot, President Obiang Nguema Mbasago, deems Mann a "criminal", says he believes western governments knew about the coup plot, and denies trading oil with Zimbabwe in return for Mann's extradition.
Simon Mann and his team of mercenaries were foiled in their plot when their plane was captured on the tarmac at Harare airport in Zimbabwe as they prepared to pick up their weapons and fly in.
Mann now awaits tomorrow's trial in Equatorial Guinea's Black Beach prison, where he was transported in secret from Zimbabwe earlier this year.
Extracts from Obiang interview
Speaking on the eve of British mercenary Simon Mann's trial in Equatorial Guinea the country's President Obiang told Channel 4 News "He's a criminal and we don't have relations with criminal bastards."
On Mann's role in the attempted coup plot on the African oil state President Obiang said there was a wider conspiracy:
"We've reached a conclusion that Simon Mann was used as an instrument but there were material and intellectual authors behind it that financed the operation."
Whether Simon Mann was properly extradited from Zimbabwe where he was previously held - or kidnapped as Mann alleges - is not clear.
'We haven't yet received a reaction from the British government. We hope we will get it after the sentence. We have invited members of the British government to come here to observe the trial.'President Obiang
Mr Obiang says "We had agreed previously with the Zimbabwean government that he was going to be extradited. The trip was not brutal. He was moved in the Presidential plane in the best of conditions".
But Mr Obiang admits to now selling Zimbabwe crude oil although denies that this was a trade off for Simon Mann.
Mr Obiang told Channel 4 News that "There were no conditions, there were political negotiations coordinated between the judges and the courts".
He continued: "There's no contract to give them oil as a condition for them to give us Simon Mann.
"Zimbabwe is an African country, a friend. They have some difficulties because of the international embargo and they are short of energy. So we recognise their action to stop the coup d'état and we've decided to sell them crude".
Despite telling Channel 4 News that the trial "is not about revenge" Mr Obiang did not rule out the death penalty saying that he couldn't predict the result of the trial and "the tribunal will determine what kind of punishment Simon Mann will face".
Severo Moto - now under arrest in Spain - is believed to have been the president in waiting, should the coup attempt have been successful.
Mr Obiang told Channel 4 News that there is what appears to be a written contract between Simon Mann and Severo Moto detailing the coup plan.
Of the details Mr Obiang told us: "Frankly it was a shameful contract. Severo Moto was going to give all the energy resources of Equatorial Guinea to Simon Mann and those resources were going to be exploited by Simon Mann's company".
Asked if Mr Obiang believed other governments had backed the coup attempt, Mr Obiang was clear that "Some governments knew that it was going to take place but they didn't tell us. Governments have an obligation to protect each other. I'm talking about some Western governments".
Mr Obiang revealed for the first time that "it was the Angolan government that informed us about the precise date. They said in three days a coup was going to happen in Equatorial Guinea...but we didn't know exactly where the threat was coming from, if it was coming from Spain, if it was coming from England, or from South Africa, we didn't have a clue.
"The only thing we knew is that something was cooking, something really serious against my government."
Mr Obiang was also if Simon Mann would possibly serve out any future sentence in the UK to which Mr Obiang replied:
"It depends on the negotiations that we will have with the British government because the criminal act happened here and the trial is taking place here. If the sentence is going to take place in another country that's a matter of political negotiations with the British government".
He continued: "We haven't yet received a reaction from the British government. We hope we will get it after the sentence. We have invited members of the British government to come here to observe the trial."
