Help for SA 'mercenaries'

[struggle4progress]

25/07/2004 16:39 - (SA)

Johannesburg - A senior South African delegation left for Equatorial Guinea on Sunday to help ensure a fair trial for eight nationals arrested on coup plotting charges, the foreign ministry said.
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The decision to send a delegation from South Africa followed talks in Pretoria between President Thabo Mbeki and Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the long-serving ruler of Equatorial Guinea.

The alleged coup was thwarted in March when 15 suspected mercenaries - including eight South Africans - were arrested in Malabo and another 70 in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, when their plane made a stopover to pick up weapons.
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Their lawyers have cited reports by the International Bar Association and rights groups such as Amnesty International to argue that the judiciary in Equatorial Guinea is not independent.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1562909,00.html


S.Africa team heads to "mercenary" trial
25 Jul 2004 12:47:38 GMT
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"They are there to ensure a proper trial," Mamoepa said, adding the exact date for the start of the proceedings was not yet known. "It is expected soon," he said.

South Africa has pledged to do its best to ensure the men get a fair trial in Equatorial Guinea, where human rights groups accuse the government of subjecting opponents to show trials and torture in dilapidated jails.

The 15 men in Equatorial Guinea, who include eight South Africans, were arrested in March and accused of plotting a coup to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has led the country since seizing power from his uncle in 1979.

Another group of 70 men was arrested when their plane touched down in Zimbabwe in what officials there said was part of the coup plot. The Zimbabwe detainees, all of whom carry South African passports, were expected to go on trial this week.
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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B670953.htm

[seemslikeadream]

1. Plot quickens in thriller trial

The Mercenary: The trial of Old Etonian Simon Mann resumes in Zimbabwe this week. He is accused of trying to overthrow Equatorial Guinea’s President Nguema and could face execution

Eton was followed by Sandhurst and the Scots Guards, the British regiment most closely associated with royalty and upper-class British society. He passed the selection procedures of the SAS at the first attempt. He became troop commander of 22 SAS, serving in counter terrorism and intelligence in Cyprus, Germany, Norway, Canada, Central America and Northern Ireland.

He resigned from the army and established his own security company . However, he was so much a member of the Establishment and so highly thought of that General Sir Peter de la Billière, commander of British forces during the 1990 Gulf war, recalled Mann to uniform to be his right-hand man.

After the war, Mann became a mercenary soldier who was a hero to many black Africans. He put together a mercenary deal for the government of Angola that resulted in a major victory against guerrilla rebels.

For US$30 million, plus diamond mining and other mineral concessions, Mann registered a “security company” in London called Executive Outcomes. It was a front for a bigger outfit of the same name that was simultaneously established in South Africa, but which recruited former South African Defence Force fighters for mercenary operations in Africa.

more
http://www.sundayherald.com/43627