The Wonga coup

"On 7 March 2004, Zimbabwean police impounded an American plane which had flown in from South Africa with sixty-four alleged mercenaries on board. The men, led by former SAS officer Simon Mann, were heading to the tiny west African nation of Equatorial Guinea, where they planned to overthrow the government. This was the wild ambition of the Wonga Coup." "The target was the country's president, Obiang Nguema, a relic of the continent's tyrannical past who had been accused of corruption and cannibalism. The plotters were not, however, campaigning for democracy. Equatorial Guinea is Africa's third largest producer of oil and they wanted a share." "But the plan failed - spectacularly. The plotters ended up in appalling conditions - and some were tortured - in African jails." "They hadn't learnt lessons from a similar coup attempt in 1973, which formed the basis for Frederick Forsyth's The Dogs of War. In The Wonga Coup, Adam Roberts tells the story of the plot attempted thirty years later. He reveals its uncanny resemblance to the novelist's tale and the parts played by 'J.H. Archer' and Sir Mark Thatcher."--BOOK JACKET.