SA 'mercenaries' finally gain access to lawyer

[seemslikeadream]

April 02, 2004, 13:58

The seven South Africans who were arrested on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea are to finally gain access to a lawyer.

They have been held for the past 26 days apparently without the right to communicate with anyone. The men's relatives and Mokgethi Monaisa, South Africa's ambassador to Gabon, have been organising legal representation for the men.

Monaisa says he has written to the Equatorial Guinea government reminding it of its responsibilities in terms of international law, he says the authorities there are still busy with their own investigations.

more
http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,77124,00.html

[everythingsxen]

1. Does anyone else burst out in laughter when..

reading stories involving South Africans?

At least when the news-line reads "SA men" or "SA mercenaries" or "SA soldiers".

Maybe it's just me.

[DulceDecorum]

3. Dancing,

is what I have been doing.

There's even talk of offering me an extended solo in Michael Flately's next production.
I agreed, but only if they would sprinkle soil from the mercenaries' graves on stage before the show.

However, it looks as if the UN is enroute to putting my twinkle-toes out of business.
http://www.vbs.admin.ch/internet/gst/KVR/e/e-merc89.htm

This document is an additional protocol to the Geneva Convention. Nineteen countries have ratified the Convention: Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belarus, Cameroon, Cyprus, Georgia, Italy, Maldives, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Suriname, Togo, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan.
An additional nine have signed but have yet to ratify the Convention: Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
The US and UK, each with a huge private military industry, are notable for their absence as signatories.
http://www.kathryncramer.com/wblog/

Strike up the band!!

[TexasMexican]

4. Why?

[seemslikeadream]

2. Mercenaries saga: role of middle man emerges in arms deal

Dumisani Muleya



Sources said businessman Martin Bird introduced alleged mercenary leader Simon Mann and his team earlier this year to ZDI chief executive Colonel Tshinga Dube.It is understood Bird connected Mann and his associates, who included Nick Du Toit, to Dube for negotiations about the arms deal. Du Toit is currently detained in Equatorial Guinea over allegations of planning a coup against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. It is alleged Mann and his group were arrested in Harare on their way to Equatorial Guinea.


Bird and Dube are said to be long-standing business associates. Sources said after Bird introduced Mann to Dube and other ZDI officials the deal was struck. ZDI official, Group Captain Hope Mutize, was involved in the deal which the state claimed last week in court was part of a well-orchestrated sting operation against the mercenaries.


ZDI, which supplies army uniforms, field equipment and ammunition, sold arms to the suspects without an end-user certificate. The arms included 61 AK-47 assault rifles and 45 000 rounds of ammunition, 300 offensive hand grenades, 20 PKM light machines guns and 30 000 rounds of ammunition, 50 PRM machine guns, and 100 RPG 7 anti-tank launchers and 1 000 rounds of ammunition.


While the state has claimed that the deal was part of a trap to arrest the alleged mercenaries, questions have arisen about the role of ZDI in the capture of the accused and transparency of the operation insofar as the purported dummy sale of the weapons was concerned.

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/news/2004/April/Friday2/2456.html

[rooboy]

5. Stop calling them mercenaries - they're "civilian contractors" n/t