Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Coup foiled in Equatorial Guinea.....again
CNN is reporting that a coup attempt has been foiled in Equatorial Guinea. The current president blamed "enemy powers" and "multinational corporations" for the attempted coup in the oil-rich country. So, why on earth am I posting this little nugget on this blog?
Well, its got everything to do with Frederick Forsyth. I cant vouch for the absolute veracity of this episode, but the story goes that Frederick Forsyth's "Dogs of War" (a story about white mercenaries acting on behalf of a rich industrialist who find it cheaper to take over a country than pay for its mineral resources) was based on a real-life incident. The twist in the tale came when the Times of London alleged that Frederick Forsyth placed $240,000 in an attempt to overthrow President Francisco Macias Nguema. When the coup failed, Forsyth wrote an excellent book and more than made up that money, I presume. Think this is absurd? Consider Forsyth's involvement in the Biafra conflict.
Forsyth was no stranger to the murky world of mercenaries, since he had spent considerable time in Nigeria covering the Biafran civil war. While he was there, he met a Scottish mercenary named Alexander Ramsay Gay. Gay was only too happy to train and equip a small group of men who would set up a homeland for the defeated Biafrans. It is reputed that Gay was able to purchase automatic weapons, bazookas and mortars from a Hamburg arms dealer, then hire 13 other mercenaries along with 50 black soldiers from Biafra. They then purchased a ship called the Albatross out of the Spanish port of Fuengirola. The plot was blown when one of the British mercs shot himself after a gunfight with London police. The mercenaries were denied an export permit for their weapons and ammunition, and the ship and crew were arrested in the Canary Islands en route to their target.
Forsyth denies the story or any participation in the plot and admits to nothing more than writing a solidly researched book.
Well, its got everything to do with Frederick Forsyth. I cant vouch for the absolute veracity of this episode, but the story goes that Frederick Forsyth's "Dogs of War" (a story about white mercenaries acting on behalf of a rich industrialist who find it cheaper to take over a country than pay for its mineral resources) was based on a real-life incident. The twist in the tale came when the Times of London alleged that Frederick Forsyth placed $240,000 in an attempt to overthrow President Francisco Macias Nguema. When the coup failed, Forsyth wrote an excellent book and more than made up that money, I presume. Think this is absurd? Consider Forsyth's involvement in the Biafra conflict.
Forsyth was no stranger to the murky world of mercenaries, since he had spent considerable time in Nigeria covering the Biafran civil war. While he was there, he met a Scottish mercenary named Alexander Ramsay Gay. Gay was only too happy to train and equip a small group of men who would set up a homeland for the defeated Biafrans. It is reputed that Gay was able to purchase automatic weapons, bazookas and mortars from a Hamburg arms dealer, then hire 13 other mercenaries along with 50 black soldiers from Biafra. They then purchased a ship called the Albatross out of the Spanish port of Fuengirola. The plot was blown when one of the British mercs shot himself after a gunfight with London police. The mercenaries were denied an export permit for their weapons and ammunition, and the ship and crew were arrested in the Canary Islands en route to their target.
Forsyth denies the story or any participation in the plot and admits to nothing more than writing a solidly researched book.
