Servaas Nicolaas "Nick" du Toit is a former South African arms dealer, former mercenary and former colonel of 32 Battalion and the 5th Reconnaissance Commando. He was implicated in the plot to overthrow Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea. [1]
Du Toit went on trial in Malabo along with 18 other men accused of being the advance party for 70 other mercenaries. All were found guilty and although the prosecution asked for the death penalty, du Toit received a 34-year sentence (to be served in Malabo's Black Beach prison). [2]
His role was reportedly to supply the mercenaries with arms including AK-47s, RPGs, PK machine guns and mortars, and to secure the control tower at the Malabo airport and change the frequency to establish communication with the incoming plane from Zimbabwe carrying more mercenaries. After his capture, he appeared on South African television announcing the failure of the coup and the names of co-conspirators. Nick Du Toit served five years and eight months of a 34-year sentence in a cell measuring 150 cm x 210 cm, had been tortured, beaten, starved and kept for much of the time in solitary confinement. They were burned with cigarettes, beaten with rifle butts, hung upside down and beaten, contracted malaria multiple times and was refused treatment, amongst many tortures endures by the 18 men. Of the 18 mercenaries, only 4 are believed to have returned home alive.[ citation needed ]
Simon Mann had bribed the prison guards to fetch food from the hotel across the street, claiming it was good enough for his co-conspirators but not for him, he even had a treadmill installed in his prison cell while Niek and the others were handcuffed to the beds and beaten if they tried to move. [3]
Du Toit and four others were given presidential pardons by Equatorial Guinea's dictator ruler, President Obiang, on 3 November 2009, and was released, along with Sergio Cardoso, Jose Sundays, and George Alerson (1958-2015). [1] Simon Mann was also released and was back in England by 6 November 2009. [4]
Du Toit subsequently retired as a career soldier and began working in vehicle sales in Yemen. [5]
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa, with an area of 28,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location near both the Equator and in the African region of Guinea. As of 2021, the country had a population of 1,468,777, over 85% of whom are members of the Fang people, the country's dominant ethnic group. The Bubi people, indigenous to Bioko, are the second largest group at approximately 6.5% of the population.
The History of Equatorial Guinea is marked by centuries of colonial domination by the Portuguese, British and Spanish colonial empires, and by the local kingdoms.
The politics of Equatorial Guinea take place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President is both the head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Chamber of People's Representatives
Malabo is the capital of Equatorial Guinea and the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko. In 2018, the city had a population of approximately 297,000 inhabitants.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is an Equatoguinean politician and former military officer who has served as the second president of Equatorial Guinea since 3 August 1979. He is the longest-serving president of any country ever and the second-longest consecutively-serving current non-royal national leader in the world.
Simon Francis Mann is a British mercenary and former officer in the SAS. He trained to be an officer at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Scots Guards. He later became a member of the SAS. On leaving the military, he co-founded Sandline International with fellow ex-Scots Guards Colonel Tim Spicer in 1996. Sandline operated mostly in Angola and Sierra Leone, but a contract with the government of Papua New Guinea attracted a significant amount of negative publicity in what became known as the Sandline affair.
Severo Matías Moto Nsá, known as Severo Moto, is the most notable opposition politician in Equatorial Guinea, and leader of the Progress Party of Equatorial Guinea. He lives in Spain where he has established a government in exile, to the irritation of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Armengol Ondo Nguema is the younger brother of Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang, as well as the head of the president's Israeli-trained security detail.
Black Beach, located on the island of Bioko, in the capital city of Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, is one of Africa's most notorious prisons.
The 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt, also known as the Wonga Coup, failed to replace President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo with exiled opposition politician Severo Moto. Mercenaries organised by mainly British financiers were arrested in Zimbabwe on 7 March 2004 before they could carry out the plot. Prosecutors alleged that Moto was to be installed as the new president in return for preferential oil rights to corporations affiliated with those involved in the coup. The incident received international media attention after the reported involvement of Sir Mark Thatcher in funding the coup, for which he was convicted and fined in South Africa.
Plácido Micó Abogo is an Equatoguinean politician. He has been the Secretary-General of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), an opposition political party in Equatorial Guinea, since 1994.
Cruz Obiang Ebele is an Equatoguinean political activist currently imprisoned on weapons possession charges. His imprisonment drew protest from the US State Department and Amnesty International, the latter of which designated him a prisoner of conscience.
Gerardo Angüe Mangue is an Equatoguinean political activist currently imprisoned on weapons possession charges. His imprisonment has drawn protest from the US State Department and Amnesty International, the latter of which considers him to be a prisoner of conscience.
Fabián Nsue Nguema is the most prominent human-rights lawyer in Equatorial Guinea which, under Teodoro Obiang, has been referred to as one of the most repressive regimes in Africa. He is a member of Equatorial Guinea's only legal opposition party, Unión Popular (UP), which frequently denounces human rights violations, and of which he has served as secretary-general. He has defended a number of political prisoners in trials.
James Martin Brabazon, is a British documentary filmmaker, journalist, and author.
The 1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état happened on August 3, 1979, when President Francisco Macías Nguema's nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, overthrew him in a bloody coup. Fighting between loyalists and rebels continued until Macías Nguema was captured fleeing for Cameroon on August 18. He was sentenced to death for the crime of genocide against the Bubi people and other crimes committed. Macías Nguema was executed by firing squad on September 29, 1979. Teodoro has remained President since then.
Equatorial Guinea–Spain relations are the diplomatic relations between Equatorial Guinea and Spain. Both nations are members of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, Organization of Ibero-American States and the United Nations.
The Supreme Military Council — initially called the Military Revolutionary Council — was the ruling military junta and the de facto government of Equatorial Guinea between the 1979 coup d'état and the 1982 constitutional referendum.
General elections were held in Equatorial Guinea on 20 November 2022 to elect the President and members of Parliament, alongside local elections. Originally the parliamentary elections had been scheduled for November 2022 and presidential elections for 2023. However, in September 2022 Parliament approved a proposal to merge the elections due to economic constraints.
Salvador Ondo Nkumu is an Equatoguinean politician and former judge who has served as the country's Minister of Justice since 2018. He had previously served as Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011.