Simon Mann is a security expert, mercenary and former British Army officer, now holding South African citizenship. He has been accused of planning to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea by leading a mercenary force into the capital Malabo in an effort to kidnap or kill president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Simon Mann's father, George Mann, captained the England cricket team in the late 1940s and was heir to the Watney Mann brewing empire that is now part of Diageo.
After leaving Eton College, Simon Mann trained as an officer at Sandhurst and joined the Scots Guards. He later became a member of the SAS and served in Cyprus, Germany, Norway and Northern Ireland before leaving the forces in 1985. He was re-called to action from the reserves for the 1990/1991 Gulf War.
After leaving the SAS in 1985, Mann entered the field of computer security; however, his interest in this industry lapsed when he returned from his service in the Gulf and he entered the oil industry to work with Tony Buckingham. Buckingham also had a military background and had been a diver in the North Sea oil industry before joining a Canadian oil firm. In 1993 UNITA rebels in Angola seized the port of Soyo and closed off its oil installations. The Angolan government under Jose Eduardo dos Santos sought out mercenaries to seize back the port and asked for assistance from Buckingham who had by now formed his own company. Buckingham hired a South African organization called Executive Outcomes and Mann and Buckingham now became involved in Executive Outcomes' mercenary activities.
Mann went on to establish Sandline International with Tim Spicer in 1996. The company operated mostly in Angola and Sierra Leone but in 1997 the Sandline received a commission from the government of Papua New Guinea to suppress a rebellion on the island of Bougainville and the company came to international prominence.
In 2002 Mann was asked to portray Colonel Wilford of the Parachute Regiment for Granada Television's dramatisation of the events of Bloody Sunday. This was Mann's only venture into acting.
Sandline International announced the closure of the company's operations on April 16 2004.
On March 7 2004 Simon Mann and 69 others were arrested in Zimbabwe when their Boeing 727 was seized by security forces during a stop-off at Harare airport where the aircraft was due to be loaded with £100,000 worth of weapons and equipment. The men were charged with violating the country’s immigration, firearms and security laws and later accused of engaging in an attempt to stage a coup-d'etat in Equatorial Guinea. Meanwhile eight suspected mercenaries, one of whom later died in prison, were detained in Equatorial Guinea in connection with the alleged plot. Mann and the others claimed that they were not on their way to Equatorial Guinea, but were in fact flying to the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to provide security for diamond mining industry. Mann and his colleagues were put on trial in Zimbabwe and on August 27 Mann was found guilty of attempting to buy arms for an alleged coup plot and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. Sixty-six of the other men were acquitted.
On August 25, Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested at his home in Cape Town. Accused of having provided financial assistance for the alleged plot. He was placed under house arrest and faces trail in South Africa in September.
CNN reporting on the August 25, about the court case in Equatorial Guinea of the 14 alleged mercenary advanced guard that:
- Defendant Nick du Toit said he was introduced to Thatcher in South Africa last year by Simon Mann, the leader of 70 men arrested in Zimbabwe in March suspected of being a group of mercenaries heading to Equatorial Guinea.
The BBC reported in an article entitled "Q&A: Equatorial Guinea coup plot":
- The BBC's Newsnight television programme saw the financial records of Simon Mann's companies showing large payments to Nick du Toit and also some $2m coming in - though the source of this funding they say is largely untraceable.
The BBC reported on September 10, 2004 that in Zimbabwe:
- [Simon Mann], the British leader of a group of 67 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea has been sentenced to seven years in jail... The other passengers got 12 months in jail for breaking immigration laws while the two pilots got 16 months...The court also ordered the seizure of Mann's $3m Boeing 727 and $180,000 found on board.
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Last updated: 09-12-2005 02:39:13
