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

by Roberts, Adam

• ISBN13: 9781586485009
• ISBN10: 1586485008
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-28
• Publisher: PublicAffairs

Summary

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.InThe 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 artor, at least, life imitating a 1970s thrillerin almost uncanny detail. With a cast of characters worthy of a remake ofWild Geeseand a plot as mazy as it was unlikely,The Wonga Coupis a tale of venality, overarching vanity and greed whose example speaks to the problems of the entire African continent.

Author Biography

Adam Roberts is a staff correspondent of The Economist. For four years he was the publication's Johannesburg bureau chief, reporting from Madagascar, Congo, South Africa, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and—illegally—from Zimbabwe, as well as from many corners in between. He has also reported from South- East Asia, the Balkans, Europe and the United States. A former student of international politics at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, he is now based in London.

Table of Contents

Maps	p. ix
List of Characters	p. xi
Prologue	p. xiv
The Ocean of Oil
The Rise of Mann	p. 3
Mad Uncle Macias	p. 17
The Albatross of War	p. 25
Obiang in Charge	p. 37
The Gushing Prize	p. 47
The Three Hundred Days
Smelly and the Priest	p. 57
Assembling the Wongamen	p. 66
Plans and Documents	p. 75
Future Moto	p. 88
Filthy Lucre	p. 98
Enter Scratcher	p. 111
Money and Recruits	p. 124
Spain	p. 134
Get Your Guns	p. 143
The Big Push
Strike One	p. 157
The Wonga Coup (Mark One)	p. 172
The Wonga Coup (Mark Two)	p. 183
Playa Negra Pedicure	p. 192
Send Me a Splodge	p. 201
Smiling and Dying	p. 212
Riggs and the Oil Firms	p. 221
The Price of Failure	p. 232
Thatcher Falls	p. 242
Back from the Dead	p. 255
Epilogue	p. 262
Writing The Wonga Coup	p. 277
Selected Bibliography	p. 285
Index	p. 291
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.