Captain Simon Mann, schooled at Eton, is a British Mercenary and former British Army Officer. He had been serving a 34 year prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d’etat in 2004, before receiving a presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds on 2 November 2009.
After leaving the army, Simon started two IT businesses: in combat intelligence and in electronic security. These business took him to the Persian Gulf and to West Africa. Man rejoined the British Army for the first Gulf War, and after this he became an oil and gas exploration executive until the Angolan guerrillas, UNITA, brutally plunged their country back into civil war.
In response, Mann and others formed Executive Outcomes (EO) and turned around the Angolan war, taking the MPLA government side, recognised by the UN as freely and fairly elected to victory.
After starting DiamondWorks PLC, Mann and EO went on to win the Sierra Leone civil war, restoring that government and democracy in the process.
Having built three diamond mines from scratch, two in Angola and one in Sierra Leone, Mann in 1997 retired from Diamond Works to live in Cape Town, only to re-emerge in 2004 as the leader of the notorious failed Coup d’Etat attempt against the President of Equatorial Guinea, West African tyranny.
After five and a half years in two of Africa’s toughest prisons, Mann won a pardon. He had survived those years, but then had to cope with the emotional adventure of returning home in November 2009.
Since October 2011, after much third party writing and speculation, Mann was ready to speak: about his life, about what he has learnt, and about what really happened in 2004.
His autobiography, CRY HAVOC, was published in October 2011.
SPEAKING TOPICS: Sub-Saharan Africa, Corporate Logistics in Harsh Places, Privatised Warfare, Private Military Companies- Is This the Future?
Lectures:
‘Leadership After Failure’ – I presented this talk to the UK Joint Services Senior Staff. This is a discussion of my own experiences having to lead men after my arrest and the failure of the attempted Coup attempt against President Obiang’s regime that rule Equatorial Guinea.
These lessons apply directly to governments and political leaders today.
‘Figures in English Literature who knew more about Spying than just writing about it’ – given to St Swithun’s Ladies College, Winchester, UK. This is a tour thru English literature – from Chaucer to Le Carre – of those many authors in English literature who wrote about spies and spying in their work when in fact they had been a part of that self same business.
‘Simon Mann: My Life Story and Anecdotes of Private Military Contracting and Prison Survival’ My decision to assist in the attempted Coup, my arrest and the court procedures that followed along with the personal strength required to endure the prison sentence before me.
‘A History of Soldiers for Hire’- The future of the Private Military Contractor within Western Defence policy. Is it smart government or as Privatised Warfare just a profitable business? I have presented this lecture to Think Tanks and University Master’s Programs of Modern Warfare.