Lawyer for suspected mercenaries dies in Malabo
Mail & Guardian Online , South Africa
Oct 13 2004
Malabo — The lawyer for eight South Africans implicated in a coup plot
in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea died in Malabo on Tuesday of malaria,
his family said.
Fernando Mico Nsue, who also suffered from diabetes and high blood
pressure, died in Malabo at the age of 62, said his eldest son,
Alberto Nguema.
“He had not been feeling well over the past few days. He was suffering
from malaria and when he had a relapse this morning, we decided to
take him to the hospital. He died while he was being driven to the
hospital,” the son added.
Mico Nsue had also defended some of the 100 Equatorial Guinean
dissidents and former soldiers tried in 2002 for a threat to state
security.
Meanwhile there was no official word on whether the trial of the 19
accused of involvement in the coup plot last March to oust President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema would resume on October 18 as announced last
week by the Malabo court’s chief judge.
In addition to the South Africans, six Armenians and five
Equato-Guineans, including a former deputy minister, went on trial
in Malabo in August for allegedly trying to topple Obiang, who has
ruled the small central African country since 1979.
The case was adjourned on August 31 at the request of the country’s
attorney general, Jose Olo Obono, to get “further information”
following the arrest of Mark Thatcher in South Africa on August 25.
The son of the former British prime minister is suspected by Equatorial
Guinea and South Africa of bankrolling the alleged plot. – Sapa