More than 60 South Africans jailed in Zimbabwe last year for their involvement in a botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea are due to be released following a court decision to reduce their 12-month sentence.

The government has effectively banned affiliates of Zimbabwe’s main union federation from visiting the country, trade unionists said after two more South African labour leaders were deported.

Mark Thatcher appeared in court in Cape Town today for the start of his trial on charges of helping to finance a foiled coup attempt in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. The case was immediately postponed until April 8.

Sir Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister, appeared in a South African magistrates’ court today for a televised hearing on charges that he helped bankroll a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea.

Sir Mark Thatcher has arrived at a magistrates’ court in South Africa for a hearing on charges that he allegedly helped bankroll a coup attempt that failed in Equatorial Guinea.

South African television won permission today to broadcast a hearing this week on a request by Equatorial Guinea to question Mark Thatcher about an alleged coup plot in the oil-rich nation.

British mercenary leader Simon Mann, a neighbour of Mark Thatcher, was jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe today for conspiring to buy weapons of war.

THE alleged ringleader of a plot to topple the government in Equatorial Guinea was convicted yesterday of trying to buy weapons from Zimbabwe’s state arms manufacturer, but 66 other suspected mercenaries were acquitted of the charge.

Most of the 70 suspected mercenaries accused of participating in a foiled plot to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea were acquitted today of charges that they conspired to buy weapons from Zimbabwe’s state arms manufacturer.

A trial in Africa’s biggest mercenary case in decades was set to open today in the rain-streaked capital of Equatorial Guinea, with soldiers of fortune from Europe, Africa and Asia accused in an alleged plot to take control of the country’s oil wealth.

The head of the defence team for 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea has withdrawn from the case.

All but three of 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea pleaded guilty to lesser charges in Zimbabwe in hopes of early release from prison.

The trial of 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea was adjourned for 24 hours after a five-minute hearing in Zimbabwe today.

The trial of 70 people accused of being British-led mercenaries plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea was postponed in Zimbabwe today to allow their lawyers to appeal for the trial to be moved, court officials said.

Sixty-seven suspected mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe along with their three-man flight crew face additional charges of plotting to kill the president of the oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, their lawyer said today.

Sixty-four suspected mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe this week were hired to help overthrow the government in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea with the assistance of British, American, and Spanish intelligence agencies, the Zimbabwe government claimed.

The Zimbabwean army was placed on full alert today following the seizure of a US registered cargo plane carrying 64 “suspected mercenaries” and military equipment.