France Checkmated NATO
The Oil Dispute in Equatorial Guinea
France Checkmated NATO
ARTHUR LEPIC

The spectacular arrest of Mark Thatcher (British Iron Lady’s son) in South Africa and the confessions of his accomplices in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea clarified completely the fail coup against this country. The operation was not organized by adventurers or mercenaries paid by international financiers, but by NATO. The U.S. had mobilized the British and Spanish services to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang and take control of the country to build the largest gas-liquefying station of the world. By doing this, the U.S. would have taken the French oil company Total out of the market thus favoring Spanish Repsol. But France knew about the operation and made it fail. (...)

Airline Triple A Aviation was linked to Thatcher’s activities for it seemed that Sir Thatcher used it to transfer some $275 000 of the operation funds. It seemed that the airline signed on January 2004 an agreement on aviation services with Logo Logistics, Simon Mann’s company. The bank records proved that $100,000 were transferred to Logo’s account on March 2,2004; only two days before the fail coup. Although South Africa rejected the Iron Lady’s son extradition to Equatorial Guinea, investigators could question him in South African territory. Sir Thatcher was prepared to leave South Africa, where he has lived since 1996, to avoid a tax investigation. His residency was already on sale for 4.5 million dollars and his family’s airline tickets for the U.S. were booked when he was arrested by the Scorpions. (...)

NATO at the Service of the Oil Coalition

But this was not the end of the story. Beyond Mark Thatcher’s personality, who’s been the focus of attention, the true actors began to appear NATO and France waged a strategic battle that reminded people of the Iraqi situation, another country among those not very common anymore which offered solid perspectives regarding energy investment recovery (...) For instance, it’s been known that American oil company Marathon Oil was to invest 1,000 million dollars in a liquified gas terminal project in Equatorial Guinea. However, certain experts, who noticed that this was the largest project on the liquified gas field in the world, estimated that in real life the contract was a 3 000 million dollar deal.

(...) At the moment in which the plan entered its final stage and mercenaries were ready to act, two Spanish warships suddenly set sail from a NATO base in Rota, with 500 elite soldiers on board. It seemed that only they knew what their destiny was and Spain had not sent any warship to Equatorial Guinea since the independence of this African country in 1968. The direction of the two ships was controlled by the Commander in Chief of the Command of the American forces in Europe and NATO Supreme commander, General James L. Jones.

(...) On the other hand, French intelligence services had the chance of intervening by informing South African and/or Zimbabwe’s authorities at the right time thus allowing them to capture the mercenaries on their way to Malabo and, at the same time, protect the interests of the French oil company Total. Currently, it is a pleasure for Zapatero’s government to assist the South African justice. Thirty years ago, by following a Frederick Forsyth-styled plan, a few skillful and unscrupulous mercenaries could have guaranteed a nice retirement for themselves. Today, for a few more barrels it is NATO, on behalf of the very same oil coalition that invaded Iraq, the one that launched itself on an adventure pushed by the international financial institutions.

http://www.voltairenetwork.net/article88.h...

March 7 Zimbabwe seizes a US-registered cargo plane carrying 64 suspected mercenaries and military equipment. Simon Mann and five others are arrested on the tarmac

March 8 Fifteen suspected mercenaries are arrested in Equatorial Guinea, including the alleged leader of the advanced party Nick du Toit. Most of the suspects in both groups are South African

March 10 President Teodoro Obiang thanks South Africa and Angola for warning him of the plot and says it was funded by "enemy powers" and multinational companies operating within Equatorial Guinea

March 11 Bombs go off in Madrid

March 16 Zimbabwe charges 70 suspected mercenaries with conspiring to murder President Obiang

March 31 Simon Mann writes a letter pleading with associates, including Sir Mark Thatcher, to get him out of prison

(...)
August 23 Nick du Toit and 13 other suspected mercenaries go on trial in Equatorial Guinea. The 15th member of the group, a German, had died, allegedly under torture

August 25 South African police arrest Sir Mark Thatcher on suspicion of involvement in the coup plot. He is charged with breaking the country's strict anti-mercenary laws

August 27 Zimbabwe acquits 66 of the suspected mercenaries of weapons offences charges but finds Mann guilty of attempting to possess dangerous weapons. He faces up to 10 years in jail

http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea...

Spain: Madrid Commission confirms conspiracy of lies used to justify Iraq War
By Paul Mitchell
29 December 2004

Evidence presented to the commission investigating the train bombings on March 11 in Madrid in which 191 people died and 1,700 others were injured confirms that a conspiracy of lies was used to justify the Iraq war and deceive the Spanish people.

The evidence emerged when current Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero testified at the Spanish Congressional Commission of Inquiry into the Madrid bombings. Zapatero confirmed allegations first published in the Spanish daily El Pais on December 13 that the former Popular Party (PP) government led by José María Aznar ordered the destruction of computer records dealing with the key period between the Madrid train bombings and the general election held three days later that it lost to Zapatero’s Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). El Pais reported that a specialist computer company was paid $12,000 to erase the computer records, including back-up security copies.

Zapatero confirmed the allegations during questioning at the inquiry, “In the prime minister’s office we did not have a single document or any data on computer because the whole cabinet of the previous government carried out a massive erasure.”

“That means we have nothing about what happened, information that might have been received, meetings or decisions that were taken from March 11 until March 14,”he added.

Since then, it has emerged that Aznar and his cabinet office in fact erased all records covering their eight years of government. According to the New York Times, a Spanish official said every file had been wiped out on the hundreds of computers at the presidential complex, known as the Moncloa Palace. “Not a single trace of any files was left behind,” the official said. “Zero, nothing.”

(...)

http://wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/spai...

Oscar Fanjul
Director since 2001

Mr. Fanjul, age 56, is vice chairman and chief executive officer of Omega Capital, a private investment firm in Spain. Mr. Fanjul is honorary chairman of Repsol YPF, where he was chairman and chief executive officer from its inception in 1986 until 1996. He was chairman of Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico from 1999 to 2001 and chairman of NH Hoteles from 1997 until 1999. Mr. Fanjul is a director of Acerinox, the Lafarge Group, the London Stock Exchange, Unilever, Marsh S.A. and a member of MMC's International Advisory Board. He is a trustee of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation and the Amigos del Museo del Prado.

http://www.mmc.com/about/board.php