Did African coup begin in London?

A tycoon who lives in a mansion in the London suburb of Chelsea has emerged at the centre of accusations over an alleged coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. In a remarkable tale of bizarre twists, millionaire Ely Calil, who once advised controversial author Jeffrey Archer, has been accused of financing an operation to hire foreign mercenaries to overthrow the government of the oil-rich West African country.

The Information Minister of Equatorial Guinea has alleged Calil arranged to pay Old Etonian and former SAS soldier, Simon Mann, $5-million to hire a group of mercenaries to oust the ailing President Obiang. In the 1980s Mann founded Executive Outcomes, one of the world’s most successful mercenary outfits, which was involved in controversial operations in Sierra Leone and Angola.

Calil has been accused of hiring Mann to help his friend Severo Moto, the exiled Equatorial Guinean politician now living in Spain who harbours ambitions to return as President. It is alleged that, had the coup been successful, its backers, including Calil, would be given oil concessions in the tiny state that is now producing more 250 000 barrels a day.

Calil has hired Margaret Thatcher’s favourite PR guru Lord Bell to rebut the alleged claims against him, which he says are an elaborate set-up. The allegations will be an unwelcome spotlight on Calil’s commercial activities. The Lebanese-born millionaire, now a British citizen, made his fortune in oil trading with Nigeria.

In June 2002, he was arrested by French police in connection with the payments of illegal commissions by a subsidiary of the French oil giant Elf-Aquitaine to the Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. Calil was later released on appeal, although the payments are still under investigation.

After the arrest in Zimbabwe last week of 60 mercenaries — who now face possible death sentences for their alleged involvement in the coup — Equatorial Guinea Information Minister Agustin Nze Nfumu claimed the plot was financed by Calil.

This was given credence by a former South African Special Forces commander, Nick du Toit, who worked with Mann. Du Toit was arrested on Tuesday with 14 others in Equatorial Guinea and accused of helping in the plot. He has now turned state witness and on Thursday night he went on state television to denounce Calil and Moto.

South African sources say the genesis of the plot lay in a series of meetings in London between Calil and Mann in early January. On the agenda was the situation in Equatorial Guinea, which they agreed looked increasingly unstable as the struggle to succeed the ailing Obiang heated up.

The choices looked grim: Obiang would die and be replaced by his favourite son, Teodorin, widely seen as dangerously unstable; there were be a battle for power within the country’s tiny ruling clan; or there would be an externally financed putsch. Calil and Mann, say Du Toit and his colleagues in South Africa favoured the third option.

Like all other allegations levelled against him, Calil has denied this version of events. Yet since Equatorial Guinea started producing oil five years ago, Calil has cultivated a relationship with Moto. Should the Obiang regime fall, Moto is the most credible replacement.

On 15 November, 2003, Mann’s British Virgin Island’s company Logo Logistics signed an agreement with a group of Lebanese investors in the Asian Trading and Investment Group SAL. Mann’s associates insist Asian Trading is linked to Calil and was used to channel funds for the overthrow of Obiang.

Calil denies any such association or knowledge of Asian Trading’s activities. Under the terms of the deal — seen by The Observer — the Lebanese investors were to provide Mann’s company with $5-million for ”mining, fishing, aviation and commercial security projects in West Africa”.

Mann also signed an agreement with Du Toit on 1 December, which guaranteed financing from Logo Logistics of up to $2-million for ”unspecified projects”.

Yet like much in Africa’s history of coups, the truth is hard to ascertain. The Observer has learnt that Du Toit, who has made the allegations against Calil and Moto, himself set up a company in December 2003 — Triple Option Trading — that was half-owned by three senior members of Equatorial Guinea’s ruling political elite. One theory is that Du Toit was used by the government to infiltrate the plot.

In late January, Du Toit flew to Johannesburg to brief Mann. Joining in the discussions was Charles Burrows and a senior executive of Logo Logistics, now run by Mann. Burrows rubbished the coup accusations, saying the mercenaries were hired as security for a mining operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Supporting this claim is that the equipment on the cargo plane seized in Zimbabwe contained little military equipment. But it has now been suggested that, in February, Mann had flown to Harare to discuss a consignment of arms with officers of the state-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries. Sources close to Mann reported that the list given to Zimbabwe included AK47s, pistols, ammunition and mortars.

Mann is alleged to have made contact with Zimbabwe Defence Industries, through two intermediaries, one of whom was arrested in Harare. The plan was for the arms to be delivered on 19 or 20 February to the airstrip at Kolwezi in Congo, under the control of a local rebel leader. There a plane would crossload the weapons from Harare, refuel and fly on to Equatorial Guinea. But on the appointed day neither rebel leader nor fuel turned up.

On 6 March, Mann went to Zimbabwe from the Democratic Republic of Congo, accompanied by two South Africans. It is claimed their task was to prepare the way for a group of soldiers from South Africa.

On Sunday, 7 March, Logo Logistics’ Boeing 727 was made ready. Captain Neil Steyl and co-pilot Hendrick Hamman took off at 4pm with 65 soldiers on board. On board were two packages of cash: one of $30 000 for fuel and landing fees and the other of $100 000 to be used inside Equatorial Guinea.

Landing in Harare, Steyl taxied to the military wing, where everyone on board was arrested. The Obiang regime announced the arrest of 15 mercenaries led by Du Toit. On Tuesday, Obiang went on television to accuse Moto of plotting the coup. By Thursday night, Du Toit confessed on television. He looked relaxed for someone who might face execution. He later phoned his wife in South Africa telling her to expect him back by the weekend.