Author Frederick Forsyth has told the BBC of his surprise to find himself in Guinea-Bissau on the day the president and army chief were assassinated.
The British writer flew in to research a new book as the country was plunged into a drama that could have leapt from the pages of one of his thrillers. The Day of the Jackal author told of the "bizarre" events as renegade troops "rather slowly" killed the president.
He said the drama was "garnish on the cake" that might be in his new novel. The writer was at pains to point out: "I can assure you I had nothing to do with the coup d'etat." Forsyth has previously admitted helping to finance a 1973 coup attempt in another West African state, Equatorial Guinea.
Those events were the inspiration for his 1974 book The Dogs of War, which chronicles a failed plan by a group of European mercenaries to topple the government of a fictional African country. |