Mercenary Simon Mann

Anchor Lisa Mullins talks to Simon Mann, a former British Army officer who became a mercenary and launched a coup d’etat again the dictatorship of Equatorial Guinea in 2004.

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Lisa Mullins: Simon Mann is a former British army officer. In 2004, he embarked on a different kind of mission, to stage a Coup attempt against the president of equator guinea. The Coup attempt failed, to the day, Mann says the plot failed was backed by Spain, the former colonial power in Equatorial Guinea. Spain denies that. Simon Mann also alleges that the plot was funded by a variety of characters, one was a businessman, he refers only to as The Boss. Another was Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In any case, the Coup against president Mbasogo was foiled in Zimbabwe. That’s where Mann and his partners has stopped to pick up weapons. They were arrested instead. Simon Mann spent five years in jail in Zimbabwe and then he was taken to Equatorial Guinea where he was sentenced to 34 years in prison. But he got a presidential pardon in 2009 and returned to England. He told us today that he thought he’d never see his need of country again when he first arrived in Equatorial Guinea.

Simon Mann: I write that having been told if I ever got to Equatorial Guinea that I would be tortured, questioned, stalked, and quite possibly ‘easoned. (Laugh). So as you can imagine, arriving in equatorial guinea was not a very good moment, to put it mildly, however, when I got there they said look, if you help us, we’ll do our best to help you, and by that stage, Mark Thatcher and The Boss and the others who I regarded as, well I had regarded as my friends and my brothers in arms, because they had done absolutely nothing to help me, or the men, or the families. I regarded them as my enemies, and so therefore I had a common interest with the president, who wished to pursue those enemies and put them under justice.

Mullins: So the president of Equatorial Guinea, who you tried to overthrow in a Coup, had an investment at that point in keeping you alive?

Mann: A big investment because he had paid 10 million dollars in cash and 80 million dollars in fuel credits for me.

Mullins: Who got that money?

Mann: President Nugabwe of Zimbabwe.

Mullins: So now you’re acting as an advisor to this president who you tried to overthrow?

Mann: That’s actually not true, I been to Equatorial Guinea three times since my pardon. I’ve met the president, but um, what I’m doing for them, which is unpaid, is that I’m helping them pursue their legal efforts against the other people involved. Mark Thatcher, the Boss, and so forth. And that’s actually exactly the same I have been doing here in the UK, because there has been an ongoing Scotland Yard inquiry.

Mullins: For you, is there any way to really rationalize what you were looking to do aside from making the money, I mean you say you were trying to wipe out a tyrant, there were a lot of tyrants in the world. You’re not gonna get paid 10 million for wiping out each and every one of them.

Mann: That’s true and I doubt I’ll be very popular if I have another go at another and in fact, in 2003 when I joined this Coup attempt, I was a multi-millionaire in Pans anyway, you know I didn’t actually really need the money, and yeah, it does seem like a job worth doing, you know, the beauty of this was, that it was the double whammy. On the one hand, it was a really ranked tourney that needed to be sorted out and on the other it was the opportunity to make a great deal of money. (Laugh). That maybe sounds completely mad to you, but there you are.

Mullins: Well, I mean, how does it come off to you? Are you seeing yourself as a good guy in this?

Mann: Well, we always see ourselves as good guys I think. I mean my entire career as a mercenary I can step through all the way, and there is nothing unethical or immoral at any point.

Mullins: Really? And you believe that?

Mann: A 100%.

Mullins: Does that separate you as a mercenary, the term itself has an extraordinarily connotation, but do you see yourself as separate and distinct from the mercenaries for instance who went into the Congo and who do carry on extraordinarily nasty business?

Mann: I certainly would, yeah. Absolutely.

Mullins: How so?

Mann: Well, I didn’t do those things, I mean; I haven’t gone around raping nuns, and um burning women and children in villages. Absolutely not.
Lisa Mullins: But what you were trying to do, in overthrowing the leader of a sovereign nation, even if he was, uh, a dictator for 30 something years, is illegal.

Mann: It is, by the laws of that country.

Mullins: (interruption) by international laws.

Mann: By the laws of that country.

Mullins: (interruption) by international law as well.

Simon Mann: International law is by treaty. There is no jurisdiction in intellectual. It’s all by treaty, and the common laws said Hey you see a mugging, your obliged to go and do something about it. And I think you should.

Mullins: Does that mean you would do it anywhere if you’re getting paid money?

Mann: Um, hm, I think my days of assisted ragine change are over. (Laugh). But, um, I’ll be tempted, sure. If there was a bad enough tyrant and there was enough money, yup, you bet.

Mullins: Simon Mann, thank you.

Mann: Thank you

Mullins: Simon Mann’s new book about the Coup attempt called Cry Havoc is due out in Britain in December.

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