News

British mercenary Simon Mann has threatened to settle some old scores since arriving home after more than five years in African jails for a failed plot to take over Equatorial Guinea's oil riches.

Some governments may be worried about a vengeful Mr. Mann: He testified last year that the U.S. and European governments knew of the 2004 plot in advance and welcomed it, as did international oil companies operating in the small West African nation.

Analysts say that in addition to revenge, Mr. Mann's mission probably is part of the deal that won him freedom – to bring to justice the influential financiers who dreamed up the adventure that went so badly awry in the continent's No. 3 oil producer.

Mr. Mann left Malabo, Equatorial Guinea's island capital, early Wednesday after serving 15 months of a 34-year sentence; he'd already done three years in Zimbabwe. He and four South African mercenaries also pardoned Tuesday had been given 24 hours to leave and can never return.

Mr. Mann did not speak to reporters upon his arrival in Britain. But his spokesman, Ian Monk, said Mr. Mann was “hugely grateful” to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo for the pardon. He said his first priority was to reunite with his family, including a son born after his arrest.

At trial last year, Mr. Mann testified that Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, had provided $350,000 that was used to buy a small plane that was to transport Equatorial Guinea's exiled opposition leader Severo Moto from Madrid to Malabo.

His testimony had implicated Mr. Thatcher as the conspiracy's chief bankroller along with Nigerian-born British-Lebanese oil tycoon Eli Calil – allegations both men denied. Mr. Thatcher pleaded guilty in a South African court to unwittingly helping fund the operation. He was fined, given a suspended sentence and moved from South Africa to Spain's Costa del Sol, where he has kept a low profile.

“But as far as I'm concerned, I am very anxious that Calil, Thatcher and one or two of the others, should face justice,” Mr. Mann said after his release from prison Tuesday.

Mr. Mann said he had made statements to British investigators while he was in jail and added: “I am very happy to restate those things in court in the U.K. as a witness for the prosecution.”

Scotland Yard said it was investigating whether any offences were committed in Britain concerning the conspiracy.

Mr. Mann has said he met with Mr. Thatcher and Mr. Calil in London to plot the coup – an offence under British law.