Equatorial Guinea requests int'l arrest warrant for Mark Thatcher

Equatorial Guinea has requested international arrest warrants for Mark Thatcher, son of ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and other Britons implicated in an alleged coup plot in the oil-rich nation, according to reports reaching here from Malabo.

"We have asked for international arrest warrants for all responsible in this coup d'etat," Equatorial Guinean Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Mangue Obama Nfube said at a press briefing Saturday in Malabo, the country's capital.

Nfube named 51-year-old Mark Thatcher, financier Eli Calil and Simon Mann, convicted on Friday in Zimbabwe in an arms deal connected with the alleged coup attempt.

However, Nfube denied a statement by a lawyer for Equatorial Guinea's government who said Friday that the government had asked for Thatcher's extradition from South Africa.

Mark Thatcher was arrested Wednesday at his Cape Town home, accused of contributing 275,000 US dollars to an alleged plot to install a new regime in Equatorial Guinea.

Eighty-eight men are in custody in Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe and South Africa for an alleged plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang, who has ruled the country for 25 years.

Source: Xinhua