AFRICA: COUP

Independent: Mark Thatcher arrested over 'coup plot'

Sir Mark Thatcher was arrested today over claims that he was involved in a plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.

South African police said Sir Mark, the son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested at his home in Cape Town.

It is claimed that Briton Simon Mann, an Old Etonian turned African mercenary, was the ringleader of the alleged coup attempt.

He was held in Zimbabwe, allegedly with a plane full of mercenaries on their way to overthrow the Equatorial Guinea government.

The alleged plotters were said to be hoping to exploit the country's massive oil reserves after overthrowing President Teodoro Obiang and installing their own leader, Severo Moto, currently in exile in Spain.

Equatorial Guinea, pumping 350,000 barrels of oil a day, has become Africa's third-largest oil producer since offshore development began in the mid-1990s.

The country has accused British and South African oil broker Eli Calil and other foreign financiers of funding the alleged coup attempt.