PARIS, Aug 29 (AFP) - An alleged plot to stage a putsch in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea has led to trials of dozens of alleged mercenaries in Malabo and Harare and to the arrest of Margaret Thatcher's son.
Herewith a timeline of events in that drama:
March 7 - Zimbabwe impounds a US-registered plane with dozens of suspected mercenaries on board which landed at Harare airport to pick up military equipment. Briton Simon Mann, the alleged mastermind of the coup plot, and two others are arrested in the airport as they wait for the plane's arrival.
They say the men are on their way to provide protection for a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo but are accused of planning to head for Malabo to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
March 8 - Fifteen suspected coup-plotters are arrested in Equatorial Guinea, including the alleged leader of the advance party, South African Nick du Toit.
March 10 - Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema says South Africa and Angola warned him of a plot against him. He says the suspected putschists were funded by unnamed enemy powers and multinational companies.
March 16 - Zimbabwe charges 70 suspected mercenaries with conspiring to murder President Obiang after earlier charging them with breaching immigration laws and attempting to purchase firearms.
April - Mann allegedly smuggles out a letter from jail urging that those supposedly involved in the plot, including "Scratcher" -- a presumed reference to Mark Thatcher -- should use their influence to get him out of prison.
July 27 - Sixty-seven of the suspected mercenaries allegedly involved in plotting the coup plead guilty to minor charges of violating Zimbabwe's immigration and aviation laws.
July 28 - Mann, the alleged leader of 70 suspected mercenaries on trial in Zimbabwe for allegedly plotting the coup, pleads guilty to violating security laws.
August 23 - The trial opens in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, of du Toit and 13 other suspected mercenaries of South African and Armenian nationality accused of plotting to topple President Obiang.
Du Toit tells the court he was recruited by Simon Mann but had a limited logistical role in the alleged plot.
The 15th suspect, a German, has died while in custody. Officials say he died from cerbral malaria, but rights groups said he was tortured to death.
August 25 - Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is arrested at his South African home on charges of bankrolling the coup plot, thereby breaking the country's strict anti-mercenary laws.
August 27 - A Zimbabwean court finds Simon Mann guilty of attempting to buy arms for the alleged coup plot but absolves 66 other suspected mercenaries. Mann faces up to 15 years in jail.
Aug 28 - Two suspected mercenaries acquitted in Zimbabwe on coup plotting charges return home to South Africa, saying they had been tortured while in custody in jail in Harare. They face new charges in South Africa in connection with the alleged putsch.