The Wonga CoupPublicAffairs, 7 août 2006 - 303 pages Equatorial Guinea is a tiny country roughly the size of the state of Maryland. Humid, jungle covered, and rife with unpleasant diseases, natives call it Devil Island. Its president in 2004, Obiang Nguema, had been accused of cannibalism, belief in witchcraft, mass murder, billiondollar corruption, and general rule by terror. With so little to recommend it, why in March 2004 was Equatorial Guinea the target of a group of salty British, South African and Zimbabwean mercenaries, travelling on an American-registered ex-National Guard plane specially adapted for military purposes, that was originally flown to Africa by American pilots? The real motive lay deep below the ocean floor: oil. In The Dogs of War, Frederick Forsyth effectively described an attempt by mercenaries to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea — in 1972. And the chain of events surrounding the night of March 7, 2004, is a rare case of life imitating art—or, at least, life imitating a 1970s thriller—in almost uncanny detail. With a cast of characters worthy of a remake of Wild Geese and a plot as mazy as it was unlikely, The Wonga Coup is a tale of venality, overarching vanity and greed whose example speaks to the problems of the entire African continent. |
Table des matières
Prologue | xiii |
The Ocean of Oil | 1 |
The Rise of Mann | 3 |
Mad Uncle Macias | 17 |
The Albatross of War | 25 |
Obiang in Charge | 37 |
The Gushing Prize | 47 |
The Three Hundred Days | 55 |
The Big Push | 155 |
Strike One | 157 |
The Wonga Coup Mark One | 172 |
The Wonga Coup Mark Two | 183 |
Playa Negra Pedicure | 192 |
Send Me a Splodge | 201 |
Smiling and Dying | 212 |
Riggs and the Oil Firms | 221 |
Smelly and the Priest | 57 |
Assembling the Wongamen | 66 |
Plans and Documents | 75 |
Future Moto | 88 |
Filthy Lucre | 98 |
Enter Scratcher | 111 |
Money and Recruits | 124 |
Spain | 134 |
Get Your Guns | 143 |
The Price of Failure | 232 |
Thatcher Falls | 242 |
Back from the Dead | 255 |
Epilogue | 262 |
Writing The Wonga Coup | 277 |
Selected Bibliography | 285 |
291 | |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
The Wonga Coup: The British Mercenary Plot to Seize Oil Billions in Africa Adam Roberts Aucun aperçu disponible - 2006 |
Expressions et termes fréquents
32 Battalion airport American Angola Archer Armengol arrested asked attack aviation bank Black Beach Britain British Calil called Canary Islands Cape Town Carlse Chikurubi Congo contacts coup attempt coup plot court Crause Steyl documents Ely Calil Equatorial Guinea Executive Outcomes February financiers footsoldiers foreign Forsyth Frederick Forsyth funds going Greg Wales guards guys Harare helicopter hired guns intelligence investors involved jail January Johann Smith Johannesburg journalists killed knew later lawyer leaders Macias Malabo Mann's March Mark Thatcher mercenaries Merz military million Nick du Toit Niel Steyl Nigel Morgan Nigeria Obiang oil companies oil firms organised pilot plane plotters police president Pretoria prison rebels recalls recruited Riggs Samukange says Severo Moto Simon Mann soldiers South Africa Spain Spanish suggested Teodorin Toit's told took torial Guinea torture Tremain trial wanted weapons west Africa Wonga Coup Zimbabwe