Frederick Forsyth wrote it up as The Dogs of War and set it in Malabo: a rag-tag band of mercenaries, recruited by a British elite, tries to seize control of a mineral-rich, African backwater. Now the basic plot is playing out again as a trial unfolds for a group accused of a failed plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.
Detailing torture and coercion, accused South African mercenaries on Monday repudiated purported confessions taken from them in an alleged coup conspiracy that spanned from Britain to South Africa. "I can show marks," South African Jose Cardoso said, gesturing with his chained hands during his dramatic testimony.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=121356">Thatcher’s family slip out of Cape Town</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=121326">Scorpions charge ‘mercenaries’ in SA</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=121328">Forsyth’s fiction close to the facts</a>
Nigerian and South African forces guarded the executive mansion of Liberia’s embattled President Charles Taylor with automatic weapons and armoured vehicles on Monday as the war-ravaged country counted down the hours before his promised resignation.
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/ 19 December 2002
After divvying up power, Congo’s government, rebels and political opposition settled down Wednesday to the tough part of their power-sharing deal: sharing it.