28 August 2004	Saturday	11 Rajab 1425

CAPE TOWN, Aug 27: Equatorial Guinea has asked South Africa for permission to interview Mark Thatcher, arrested this week on suspicion of involvement in a coup plot against the leader of the oil-rich country, officials said on Friday.

"The Equatorial Guinea authorities have requested permission to visit South Africa to interview Mark Thatcher in relation to the trial here," South African foreign ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.

"The status quo ante remains - there has been no request for extradition," Mamoepa said, adding the interview request was being considered. The 51-year-old son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was arrested at his Cape Town home on Wednesday and police say they suspect he helped finance the alleged plot.

Thatcher, whose acquaintance Simon Mann, a former British special forces officer, was convicted in Zimbabwe on Friday on weapons charges linked to the suspected coup, has denied involvement.

Equatorial Guinea is trying 14 suspected foreign mercenaries accused of plotting to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has led sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer for several decades. Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for one of them, South African Nick du Toit.

A lawyer advising Equatorial Guinea had told Reuters there was "first contact" with South Africa over Thatcher's possible extradition, but later said the government was simply seeking more information.

"Equatorial Guinea is not accusing Mark Thatcher of anything at this stage," Lucie Bourthoumieux said late on Thursday. "What it wants, now that Mark Thatcher has been arrested and Nick du Toit has spoken about him (in court) is to know more, to know exactly what role he did or did not play in planning or financing the attempted coup."

Bourthoumieux had said a formal extradition request would depend on the result of South African police investigations. Bulelani Ngcuka, head of South Africa's FBI-style Scorpions, said in a television interview the unit had information on other people involved in bankrolling the coup plot, which it would share with the "affected" countries. He gave no further details.

THATCHER DISTRESSED: Margaret Thatcher flew home to London on Friday after breaking off a US holiday following her son's arrest. A family spokesman said she was "distressed" but confident about South Africa's legal process. "She's sure that he'll be cleared," said Lord Tim Bell, a Thatcher friend.

Mark Thatcher, a businessman, has been released on two million rand (300,000 dollars) bail and is under orders to remain in South Africa pending a November court appearance.

South Africa abolished the death penalty with the end of apartheid in 1994 and has said it would not extradite any suspect to a country where they might face execution - which lawyers have said could be possible if Thatcher was sent to Equatorial Guinea.

Zimbabwe arrested another group of suspected mercenaries said to be involved in the plot in March. On Friday, a Zimbabwean magistrate convicted Mann, the group's leader, on weapons charges but acquitted 66 others.

Mann - whose relationship with Thatcher is under increasing scrutiny by both authorities and the news media - could face 10 years in prison when sentenced on Sept 10.

Lord Tim said Mann's conviction in Zimbabwe on what he described as relatively minor charges showed South Africa's case against Thatcher was weak. "This whole affair has been blown up into something that it probably isn't," the Thatcher friend told Reuters. -Reuters