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

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Table of Contents

* Wonga n. Early twenty-first century British slang for money, usually a lot of it. A large splodge of wonga: great quantities of cash. Probably from the Romany word wanger, meaning coal. Coal served as a slang term for money in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England.

To E and M

Locations of the Wonga Coup, Africa and Europe, 2004

List of Characters

Selected characters, by location, as of Sunday 7 March 2004.

Zimbabwe
Harry Carlse	Ex-special forces soldier and former Executive Outcomes employee. Fought beside Simon Mann (below) in Angola; also in Iraq. Ex-nightclub bouncer, assistant to Mann. South African. a.k.a. The Enforcer.
Victor Dracula	Decorated soldier of 32 Battalion, long fought in Angola. Naturalised South African.
Simon Mann	Ex-Executive Outcomes and SAS. Active notably in Angolan war in early 1990s. Mastermind of the Wonga Coup. Old Etonian and friend of many others involved. British/South African. a.k.a. Captain F.
J. Samukange	Lawyer and aspiring politician. Zimbabwean.
Niel Steyl	Ex-Executive Outcomes in Angola. Grey-haired pilot of Boeing 727 for Indian tycoon. Brother of Crause Steyl (see below, Canary Islands). South African.
Simon Witherspoon	Ex-special forces soldier and professional hunter. South African.
South Africa
James Kershaw	Manns young administrative assistant. Friend of Morgan and friend of Smith (below). South African.
Nigel Morgan	Intelligence trader and bon vivant. Close to South African government, ex-military intelligence. Close friend of Mann and Thatcher (below). British. a.k.a. Nosher, Captain Pig.
Johann Smith	Intelligence trader close to governments of Equatorial Guinea and South Africa. Ex-military intelligence. South African. a.k.a. Peg Leg.
Sir Mark Thatcher	Businessman and friend of Mann and Morgan. Financier of helicopter intended by others for use in coup plot. Son of Baroness Thatcher. British. a.k.a. Scratcher.
Equatorial Guinea
Bones Boonazier	Ex-sergeant major in South African army. Worked for du Toit (below) in Equatorial Guinea. South African. First name Marthinus. a.k.a. Bones.
Sergio Cardoso	Ex-South African special forces and mercenary. Thought to be second in command to du Toit. Sao Tomean.
Nick du Toit	Ex-South African special forces. Arms dealer and friend of Mann. Front man in Equatorial Guinea. South African. a.k.a. Niek, Nicky, Nik.
Gerhard Merz	Aviation broker, business partner of du Toit and chemical weapons trader. German.
Obiang Nguema	Long-standing president of Equatorial Guinea, nephew of Macias (see below). Equatorial Guinean.
Macias Nguema	Ex-president and genocidal dictator of Equatorial Guinea 1968 79). Equatorial Guinean.
Teodorin Nguema	Elder son of, and likely successor to, Obiang. Playboy. Equatorial Guinean.
Armengol Nguema	Younger brother of Obiang and business partner of du Toit. Equatorial Guinean.
Spain and Canary Islands
Severo Moto	Trained priest. Aspiring president of Equatorial Guinea, exiled in Madrid. Friend of Ely Calil (see United Kingdom, below).
Crause Steyl	Pilot. Ex-Executive Outcomes. Brother of Niel Steyl and friend of Mann. Self confessed plotter of the Wonga Coup. South African.
David Tremain	Businessman. Friend of Mann and alleged financier and coup plotter. Wanted in South Africa. British.
Greg Wales	Accountant. Ex-Executive Outcomes. Friend of Mann and fellow plotter. Wanted in South Africa. British. a.k.a. Oil Slick, Charles Burrows.
United Kingdom
Jeffrey Archer	Novelist, politician, member of the House of Lords and convicted perjurer. Accused of putting funds into Manns bank account a few days before the launch of the coup. British.
Ely Calil	Tycoon and friend of Moto, Archer, Mandelson, Mann and Thatcher. Well -connected in west Africa. Accused by Equatorial Guinea of being the chief financier of the plot. Lebanese Nigerian. a.k.a. Khalil, Smelly.
Frederick Forsyth	Bestselling novelist; author of The Dogs of War, about a coup plot in west Africa. Suspected plotter of 1973 coup attempt against Equatorial Guinea. British.
France
Henry Page	Lawyer for the government of Equatorial Guinea, based in Paris. British.
USA
Simon Kareri	African accounts manager, Riggs Bank. Very close to Equatorial Guinea rulers. American.

Prologue

Manyame military base
Harare, Zimbabwe
Sunday, 7 March 2004
6.35 p.m.

There were no stars that night on the Harare airstrip, nor any moon; just the southern African darkness wrapping around him like warm, wet velvet

A slender, middle-aged man with a military bearing stares at the horizon as a dot of light appears in the south. Right on schedule, the lights of a Boeing 727 flicker in the gloom. He feels a twinge of excitement, the familiar adrenalin. The aircraft lumbers closer and his breathing quickens. This night will see the climax to months of hard preparation.

Captain F slips a cell phone into his jacket pocket, spins on his heel and turns his back to the approaching plane. Head up, breathing in the fresh night air, he closes his eyes and as he has already done so many times before runs the plan through his mind

Soon after midnight the forward team will move into position. The sweaty little capital of the target country will be silent as Nicks landcruisers conduct a final reconnaissance. Their beams illuminate Spanish colonnades, palms, the squat concrete houses, the rubbish-strewn streets, the odd drunken soldier. A last drive past the presidents palace, then on to the coast road and towards the orange night sky, towards Punta Europa, the gas-flaring complex beside the airport, and then to the airfield itself. Nick and his welcoming committee will enter the tower, take charge, set the radio to the agreed frequency and wait.

Two hours after midnight, west African time, Captain Fs team will be approaching the target. Contact will be made with Nick. Touch down and a rapid exit from the customised ex-American government Boeing. The seventy men of the landing team, veterans of mercenary wars in Africa, of some of the bloodiest battles on the continent, have done all this before. They can be trusted with loaded weapons in a pressurised plane. First task on arrival: secure the airport. Second, load the mortars, grenades, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and other supplies in the landcruisers.

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