The Wonga Coup: Simon Mann's Plot to Seize Oil Billions in Africa

Front Cover
Profile, 2009 - Corruption - 319 pages
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, billiondollar 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.

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User Review  - bas615 - LibraryThing

As can probably be seen from my books, I am obsessed with Africa. This book was one that had been on my list for a long time and I was not disappointed. While the writing was not great and there ... Read full review

The Wonga coup: guns, thugs, and a ruthless determination to create mayhem in an oil-rich corner of Africa

User Review  - Not Available - Book Verdict

In 1974, Frederick Forsyth wrote the best sellerThe Dogs of War about a fictitious coup on a small island nation off the west coast of Africa. Thirty years later, a small, wealthy group of South ... Read full review

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About the author (2009)

A former Southern Africa correspondent for The Economist, Adam Roberts has contributed to the Times Literary Supplement and political journals in Africa. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian and currently works for The Economist in London.

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