SOUTH AFRICA: Officials in Equatorial Guinea have formally asked to visit South Africa to interview Sir Mark Thatcher in connection with a suspected coup plot against the west African state's leader.
A spokesman for the South African Foreign Ministry, Mr Ronnie Mamoepa, yesterday said: "The Equatorial Guinea authorities have requested permission to visit South Africa to interview Mark Thatcher in relation to the trial here. The status quo ante remains - there has been no request for extradition."
Mr Mamoepa added that the interview request was being considered.
Sir Mark (51), son of former British prime minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher, was arrested at his Cape Town home on Wednesday. Police suspect he helped finance the purported plot. He was released on 2 million rand (€248,000) bail. His arrest and court appearance coincided with a visit to Cape Town by the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, who said Sir Mark was entitled to normal consular assistance.
Sir Mark, who faces charges of violating South Africa's strict anti-mercenary laws but says he is innocent, has been ordered to stay in the Cape Town area until a November court appearance.
Equatorial Guinea is trying 14 suspected foreign mercenaries for plotting a coup in sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest oil producer. Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for one of them, South African Nick du Toit.
Ms Lucie Bourthoumieux, a lawyer advising Equatorial Guinea, had said there was "first contact" with South Africa over possible extradition, but later said the government was simply seeking more information.
"Equatorial Guinea is not accusing Mark Thatcher of anything at this stage," Ms Bourthoumieux said on Thursday.
"What it wants now that Mark Thatcher has been arrested and Nick du Toit has spoken about him [in court\] is to know more, to know exactly what role he did or did not play in planning or financing the attempted coup."
Ms Bourthoumieux had said a formal extradition request would depend on the result of South African police investigations.
Meanwhile, Baroness Thatcher flew home to London yesterday after breaking off a US holiday following her son's arrest.
A family spokesman said she was "distressed" but confident about South Africa's legal process. "She's sure that he'll be cleared," said Lord Bell.
South Africa abolished the death penalty with the end of apartheid in 1994 and has said it would not extradite any suspect to a country where they could face execution.
Meanwhile, a Zimbabwean court trying 74 foreigners, mostly South Africans, for involvement in the attempted coup, yesterday convicted former British special forces officer Simon Mann of weapons charges but acquitted 66 of the others. Mann is an acquaintance of Sir Mark and could face 10 years in prison when sentenced on September 10th.
One of Sir Mark's lawyers, Mr Phillip Higgo, said he doubted that Mann's conviction would make things worse for his client.
"It has no bearing, that I can see, on Mr Thatcher's case. Much is made of it, but the fact that Mr Thatcher is acquainted with Mr Mann is neither here nor there," Mr Higgo said.