Margaret Thatcher’s Son Charged in Plot

By RODRIGO ANGUE NGEUMA MBA
.c The Associated Press

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (AP) – Equatorial Guinea prosecutors
confirmed Thursday they have charged Mark Thatcher, son of former
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in an alleged coup plot in
the oil-rich west African nation.

Thatcher is accused of having helped finance the coup attempt,
Attorney General Jose Olo Obono said.

Thatcher was added to the existing list of 19 other defendants, all
accused mercenaries, on Tuesday, Obono said.

Equatorial Guinea intends to seek Thatcher’s extradition, a legal
official close to the government’s case told The Associated Press
earlier this week.

Equatorial Guinea alleges Thatcher and other, mainly British
financiers, worked with Equatorial Guinea opposition figures, scores
of South African mercenaries, and six Armenian pilots in a takeover
plot here.

The coup plotters intended to force out the 25-year regime of
President Teodoro Obiang, installing an exiled opposition figure in
his stead as a figurehead leader for Africa’s No. 3 oil producer,
Equatorial Guinea claims.

The alleged plot was exposed in March by South African intelligence
services, and scores of accused mercenaries arrested here and in
Zimbabwe.

Thatcher was arrested in August at his home in South Africa.

Trial resumed Thursday, with prosecutors’ lead witness formally facing
the death penalty after repudiating his alleged confessions in the
case in court on Tuesday.

11/18/04 06:45 EST