The Wonga Coup

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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. Download The Wonga Coup Author Adam Roberts – kino-fada.fr I ve been doing this project of learning about Africa one nation at a time for about a year and a half now, and I have read a lot of academic books In some of these small countries, the only people doing the research are those looking forandobscure dissertation topics I expected to find the same when I started looking at Equatorial Guinea, population 757,014 Then I found a true story that may as well be a thriller, involving among many others spy novelists Frederick Forsythe and I ve been doing this project of learning about Africa one nation at a time for about a year and a half now, and I have read a lot of academic books In some of these small countries, the only people doing the research are those looking forandobscure dissertation topics I expected to find the same when I started looking at Equatorial Guinea, population 757,014 Then I found a true story that may as well be a thriller, involving among many others spy novelists Frederick Forsythe and Jeffrey Arche...It is amazing what white men think they can still get away with in modern Africa Only African heads of state can act with the sort of complete impunity that Simon Mann tried to get away with in his attempt to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.This book was madeenjoyable by my having recently finished Robert Klitgaard s Tropical Gangsters, which is a book about World Bank IMF development activities in Equitorial Guinea nearly 20 years before the activities described in The Wonga Coup I m not sure if I would have given this one three stars had I not alrea...This book has me thinking about justice It s the story of a group of mercenaries who try to topple the ruler of Equatorial Guinea, who seems to be pretty much one of the worst leaders on the planet The coup fails spectacularly and all the guns for hire are arrested, and the ensuing trial brings out links to big banks, oil companies, and famous figures notably Margaret Thatcher s ne er do well son.It s unclear who the bad guys are here The coup isn t exactly being put on for moral reasons, b This book has me thinking about justice It s the story of a group of mercenaries who try to topple the ruler of Equatorial Guinea, who seems to be pretty much one of the worst leaders on the planet The coup fails spectacularly and all the guns for hire are arrested, and the ensuing trial brings out links to big banks, oil companies, and famous figures notably Margaret Thatcher s ne er do well son.It s unclear who the bad guys a...Audiobook versionA well detailed book about the failed 2004 mercenary overthrow of Equatorial Guinea This failed armed coup is best remembered because it involved the former British Primer Minister Margaret Thatcher s son, Sir Mark Thatcher, as one of the financial supporters of the coup The author interview many of the individuals involved in the adventure It is a worth while read if you are interested in seeing how a plot to overthrow a country begins and the unseen preparations that that i Audiobook versionA well detailed book about the failed 2004 mercenary overthrow of Equatorial Guinea This failed armed coup is best remembered because it involved the former British Pri...This is an amazing story of a really unbelievable but true event a coup in Equatorial Guinea a shitty country in West Africa run by cartoonish dictators from an island, propped up by oil wealth, while their population starves , a coup which was described in detail in a fictional bo...I had only the vaguest recollection of some sort of coup attempt involving Mark Thatcher in the early 2000s before i stumbled upon this in a used bookshop great reporting by The Economist s Africa corres...Frederick Forsyth s The Dogs of War details an attempt to overthrow the government of a small African country in the book called Zangaro, but well known to be Equatorial Guinea And when I say details , I mean sets out in painstaking detail just how exactly such a thing could happen And when I say could happen , I mean has been attempted Twice.The first time was the attempted coup in 1973 that mirrored the book in almost every way other than in its failure and of which Forsyth himself Frederick Forsyth s The Dogs of War details an attempt to overthrow the government of a small African country in the book called Zangaro, but well known to be Equatorial Guinea And when I say details , I mean sets out in painstaking detail just how exactly such a thing could happen And when I say could happen , I mean has been attempted Twice.The first time was the attempted coup in 1973 that mirrored the book in almost every way other than in its failure and of which Forsyth himself was almost certainly both the lead funder, and strategic mastermind At the time the country was very poor and very repressive, and their goal was to replace its deranged dictator with the Biafran leader, Ojukwu.By the second attempt, in 2004, the country s fortunes had improved significantly, having discovered substantial quantities of oil It had grown to become the third largest oil producer in Africa, enabling it to have held the position of the world s fastest growing economy for a decade But it was still...The Wonga Coup Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil Rich Corner of Africa had me hooked straight from the title Seriously, guns, thugs, and ruthless determination I m usually satisfied if a book provides me with just one, but all three Seriously though, this story has all the intrigue and mysterious men of adventure of a Frederick Forsyth novel, only this one is true The story follows Simon Mann, an Eton educated and SAS trained British aristocrat member of th The Wonga Coup Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil Rich Corner of Africa had me hooked straight from the title Seriously, guns, thugs, and ruthless determination I m usually satisfied if a book provides me with just one, but all three Seriously though, this story has all the intrigue and mysterious men of adventure of a Frederick Forsyth novel, only this one is true The story follows Simon Mann, an Eton educated and SAS trained British aristocrat member of the South African expat co...So far, I ve read up until Chapter 15 and I won t recommend it to anyone for a combination of part or all of the reasons below.1 Unsubstantiated Claims The author makes tons of outlandish claims but they re never substantiated For example, In chapter 8 he claims the existence of contracts between the coup plotters and Mr Moto yet he never presents copies of these contracts in his primary documents How do we know the alledged contracts exist ed 2 Sources What are his sources Where are h So far, I ve read up until Chapter 15 and I won t recommend it to anyone for a combination of part or all of the reasons below.1 Unsubstantiated Claims The author makes tons of outlandish claims but they re never substantiated For example, In chapter 8 he claims the existence of contracts between the coup plotters and Mr Moto yet he never presents copies of these contracts in his primary documents How do we know the alledged contracts exist e...

The Wonga Coup
  • English
  • 10 October 2018
  • Hardcover
  • 303 pages
  • 1586483714
  • Adam Roberts
  • The Wonga Coup