SA in secret talks over 'mercenary' transfer

[seemslikeadream]

A DEFENCE lawyer for the 70 alleged mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe accused the South African government on Monday of conducting secret talks with UK lawyers to help transfer team leader, Simon Mann, to England.

"I have no proof but I was told that Mann's legal team did not want to go ahead with the Constitutional Court (appeal) case against the South African government as they felt it would piss off certain government officials in South Africa," said attorney Alwyn Griebenow. He said he would officially be withdrawing as Mann's defence lawyer when the trial resumed on July 21 in Zimbabwe.

He was told on Friday that Mann's family had appointed US attorney Rebecca Gaskill to lead his defence. She would be backed up by legal representatives in the UK as well as another team in Harare.

The UK group reportedly includes Mann's brother, Edward, an insurance litigator who has engaged a British barrister.
more
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane37.11269.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. Armenia Makes Another Effort to Help Arrested Pilots

Thanks Snazzy

Armenia Makes Another Effort to Help Arrested Pilots

By Armen Zakarian 14/07/2004 01:40

An Armenian delegation headed by Armenia's envoy to Egypt, Sergei Manaserian, has met with the authorities in Equatorial Guinea in an effort to help six Armenian citizens detained in that West African country, a senior Armenian diplomat told RFE/RL.
"The Armenian pilots have been under arrest since March," Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamlet Gasparian told RFE/RL on 13 July. "This is our second delegation. The first delegation has already met with the authorities of Equatorial Guinea -- the Ministry of Justice, Prosecutor's office, and Foreign Ministry. "Gasparian added that as a result of the meetings the Armenian pilots were allowed to have phone conversations with their families.

The six Armenian pilots arrested earlier this year continue to deny any involvement in an alleged plot to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea. The Armenian nationals are among 15 detained foreigners accused by the leadership of the former Spanish colony of hatching a conspiracy against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Nguema's regime claims that they were an advance party of a larger group of "mercenaries" arrested in Zimbabwe earlier in March.

(snip one more p)

http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=9727

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Organized in Spain, funding through UK. Lead mercs UK. SA most other mercs. Armenian pilots, American plane. What a UN of a coup plot!


Riggs and Equatorial Guinea
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=11993&page=

[seemslikeadream]

2. SA in talks to move Executive Outcomes boss

According the Guardian Online, Mann, 51, has spent most of his career in the special forces or as a mercenary. The son of an England cricket captain who made a fortune from a brewing empire, he was educated at Eton and Sandhurst and joined the Scots Guards, a regiment of the royal household.

He then applied and passed the gruelling selection procedure for the SAS and became a troop commander in 22 SAS, specialising in intelligence and counter-terrorism. He served in Cyprus, Germany, Norway, Canada, central America and Northern Ireland.

Mann moved to South Africa where he founded Executive Outcomes, accused by many of being a mercenary outfit. - Sapa


http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=qw1089639361313B256

Did I know, did I forget Mann founded Executive Outcomes?

Plaza 107 and its links to Executive Outcomes


The Diamond Dogs

This commercial enterprise has given EO its nickname; 'the diamond dogs of war'. A recent United Nations report noted that once a firm like EO is able to establish security in an area 'it apparently begins to exploit the concessions it has received by setting up a number of associates and affiliates' which engage in 'legitimate' businesses. Such firms thus acquire 'a significant, if not hegemonic, presence in the economic life of the country in which it is operating'.

One of the Plaza 107 group firms is Branch Energy (BE), an English corporation which registered in the Isle of Man, a tax haven, in April 1994. EO is a major shareholder in BE, with 6o per cent of BE Angola, 40 per cent Of BE Uganda, and 40 per cent Of BE Sierra Leone. In June 1996 BE merged with Carson Gold, controlled by Canadian mining magnate Robert Friedland, to form Diamond Works Inc. This company, which has prospecting rights in Congo, Namibia, Botswana and Senegal, and is now the second largest concession holder in Angolait, was recently awarded the Alto Kwanza diamond exploration concession in Bie Province, covering an area of more than 18,ooo sq. km. In July 1996 the Sierra Leone government awarded the company a twenty-five-year lease to the Koidu diamond fields in the Kono region 'liberated' by EO. Diamond Works has contracted Lifeguard, another SRC subsidiary, at us$6o,ooo a month to protect its diamond fields in Sierra Leone.

Another line of analysis suggests that the prime mover in the employment of EO in Sierra Leone came from the South African mining house Gencor. In 1996 Gencor sold its controlling interest in the Australian company Cudgen RZ to another Australian firm, Renison Goldfields Consolidated (RGC). A subsidiary of RGC, Consolidated Rutile Ltd., in partnership with the us firm Nord Resources Group, controls half of Sierra Rutile Ltd, which with an annual production worth US$200 Million a year is the largest rutile mine in the world. The mine was the regional headquarters for Eo during their operations in West Africa and when they withdrew Sierra Rutile Ltd. took out a contract with Lifeguard.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/sheppard.ht...

more
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=9983&page=

[seemslikeadream]

3. Wider Mercenary Plot Alleged

Sunday Times (Johannesburg)

July 11, 2004
Posted to the web July 12, 2004

S'THEMBISO MSOMI
Johannesburg

EQUATORIAL Guinea's President Nguema Mbasogo claims that the alleged coup attempt against his government was part of a wider mercenary conspiracy also aimed at two other countries.

Addressing the African heads of state in Ethiopia this week, Mbasogo accused Spain of being behind the alleged coup and claimed a Spanish warship had been stationed in his nation's territorial waters waiting to help the alleged plotters.


At least 18 men, including South Africans, were arrested in Equatorial Guinea and accused of plotting to overthrow the government. Another 70 alleged mer -cenaries, stationed in South Africa, were arrested in Zimbabwe after their aircraft landed there. Their trial is due to start in Harare on July 19.

They face possible extradition to Equatorial Guinea, where they could be sentenced to death along with the other 18 men, who are facing similar charges.

more
http://allafrica.com/stories/200407120578.html