Britons 'led and financed coup plot'

A trial in Africa’s biggest mercenary case in decades has opened in Equatorial Guinea, with soldiers of fortune from Europe, Africa and Asia accused in an alleged plot to take control of oil-rich country.

Soldiers with automatic weapons ringed the makeshift courtroom in a government-run convention centre yesterday as the trial got underway in the capital Malabo, amid allegations the suspects were tortured into confessing and had little chance of getting a fair hearing.