Servaas Nicolas "Nick" du Toit is a former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n arms dealer, former

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

and former colonel of 32 Battalion and the 5th Reconnaissance Commando. He was implicated in the plot to overthrow Teodoro Obiang of

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

Failed coup and aftermath

Du Toit went on trial in

Malabo Malabo ( , ; formerly ) is the capital of Equatorial Guinea in the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko (, and as ''Fernando Pó'' by the Europeans). In 2018, the city had a population of approxim ...

along with 18 other men accused of being the advance party for 70 other mercenaries. All were found guilty and although the prosecution asked for the death penalty, du Toit received a 34-year sentence (to be served in Malabo's

Black Beach Black Beach (), located on the island of Bioko, in the capital city of Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, is one of Africa's most notorious prisons. History The prison was built in the 1940s during the time of the Spanish colonial rule. At first, co ...

prison). His purported role was to supply the

mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...

with arms including

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

RPGs RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

PK machine gun The PK (, transliterated as ''Pulemyot Kalashnikova'', or "Kalashnikov's machine gun"), is a belt-fed general-purpose machine gun, chambered for the 7.62×54mmR rimmed cartridge. The modernized and most commonly known variant, known as the PKM ...

s and

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

, and to secure the control tower at the Malabo airport and change the frequency to establish communication with the incoming plane from

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

carrying more mercenaries. After his capture, he appeared on

n television announcing the failure of the coup and the names of co-conspirators. Du Toit served five years and eight months of a 34-year sentence in a cell measuring 150 cm x 210 cm, had been tortured, beaten, starved and kept for much of the time in solitary confinement. They were reportedly burned with cigarettes, beaten with rifle butts, hung upside down and beaten, contracted malaria multiple times and was refused treatment, among many tortures endures by the 18 men.

Simon Mann Simon Francis Mann (26 June 1952 – 8 May 2025) was a British officer in the Special Air Service (SAS), and later a mercenary. He trained to be an officer at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Scots Guards. He later became a member of t ...

had bribed the prison guards to fetch food from the hotel across the street, claiming it was good enough for his co-conspirators but not for him, he even had a treadmill installed in his prison cell while du Toit and the others were handcuffed to the beds and beaten if they tried to move. Du Toit and three others were given presidential pardons by Equatorial Guinea's dictator ruler, President Obiang, on 3 November 2009, and was released, along with Sergio Cardoso, Jose Sundays, and George Alerson (1958-2015). Additionally,

was also released and was back in England by 6 November 2009. Du Toit subsequently retired as a career soldier and began working in vehicle sales in Yemen.McVeigh, Tracy
"Ex-mercenary Nick du Toit tells of his five years in a 'living hell' and why he is ashamed of war"

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, 13 June 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2015.

References

Literature

* James Brabazon: ''My Friend the Mercenary'', Grove Press (March 22, 2011), Biography of Nick du Toit.

External links

"My Friend, the Mercenary From Hell"
by Noah Shachtman, 25 April 2008
BBC News article on the verdicts handed to the coup force
BBC Online, 26 November 2004
"No 'buy recommendation' for a book about a former mercenary"
by Dr. Alexander von Paleske, Nachrichten Heute, 2 August 2010
Du Toit interview with Tracy McVeigh
''The Observer'' online, 12 June 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:du Toit, Nick Living people Afrikaner people Recipients of Equatoguinean presidential pardons South African Army personnel South African military personnel of the Border War Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) South African mercenaries

Failed coup and aftermath

See also

References

Literature

External links