Page 349 - They Also Served

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Simon Mann 1972.
The son of former England cricket
captain and highly decorated army
officer George Mann, Simon Francis
Mann was born in Aldershot on 26th
June 1952. Educated at Eton College,
he entered Intake 50, won the Soviet
Studies prize and was commissioned
into the Scots Guards in 1972. After
regimental duty, Mann passed the SAS
selection course and served as a troop
commander. Resigning his commission
in 1986, he worked in computer security but, after deploying to the Gulf War as a reservist, he sought a more adventurous life.
In 1993, Mann joined former North Sea diver Tony Buckingham working in the oil industry. Soon afterwards, UNITA rebels under Jonas Savimbi seized the Angolan port of Soyo and shut off the export of oil. The president, faced with dwindling oil revenue, sought to employ foreign fighters to take back control of the port. They employed a South African private military company (PMC), which was registered in London in 1993 with Buckingham and Mann on the list of associates. The company quickly suppressed the rebels and provided training for the Angolan Army, who subsequently defeated UNITA.
Mann saw the opportunity for a British organisation along similar lines and, along with fellow former Scots Guards officer Tim Spicer, formed Sandline International in 1996. Soon afterwards, they were approached by the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, Sir Julius Chan, to suppress a rebellion on the island of Bougainville after a failed attempt by his army to complete the task. Sandline was to be paid $36m which was not voted for by parliament but was instead produced by ‘salami slicing’ government budgets, including health and education. When this became known, the army refused to cooperate and a stand-off with the police ensued. Eventually, Chan was forced to resign, and the so-called Sandline Affair exposed the world of PMCs working with foreign governments.
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