The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa

Description

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, billion dollar 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. Contents Maps List of Characters Prologue part one The Ocean of Oil 1 The Rise of Mann 2 Mad Uncle Macias 3 The Albatross of War 4 Obiang in Charge 5 The Gushing Prize part two The Three Hundred Days 6 Smelly and the Priest 7 Assembling the Wongamen 8 Plans and Documents 9 Future Moto 10 Filthy Lucre 11 Enter Scratcher 12 Money and Recruits 13 Spain 14 Get your Guns part three The Big Push 15 Strike One 16 The Wonga Coup (Mark One) 17 The Wonga Coup (Mark Two) 18 Playa Negra Pedicure 19 Send Me a Splodge 20 Smiling and Dying 21 Riggs and the Oil Firms 22 The Price of Failure 23 Thatcher Falls 24 Back from the Dead Epilogue Writing The Wonga Coup Selected Bibliography Index