Harare Accuses Ex-SAS Man Of Links To Detained 'Mercenaries'

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | Tim Butcher/Peta Thornycroft

[blam]

Harare accuses ex-SAS man of links to detained 'mercenaries'

By Tim Butcher in Johannesburg and Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed: 10/03/2004)

Zimbabwe yesterday accused a former SAS officer from Britain of being involved with an aircraft detained at Harare airport allegedly carrying military equipment and 64 "suspected mercenaries".

Kembo Mohadi, Zimbabwe's home affairs minister, alleged that Simon Mann, a former SAS officer living in Cape Town, where he is in the security business, had travelled earlier to Zimbabwe and went to Harare airport to meet the aircraft.

But when the authorities searched the aircraft it was found to have filed an incorrect passenger list and to be carrying what Mr Mohadi described as "military materiel".

While there is no suggestion of any attempt to destabilise Robert Mugabe's regime the incident will be treated as a PR coup by his government and an acute embarrassment for Britain. Mr Mugabe has repeatedly said MI6 and British security services are operating in Zimbabwe.

Although Mr Mann has long been retired from the British Army he remains connected with the world of security consultants.

It is not known whether he was detained, although Mr Mohadi said the 64 "suspected mercenaries" were led by a "known mercenary", Simon Witherspoon, a white South African.

Mr Mohadi claimed that of the 64 men from the seized aircraft 20 were South Africans, 18 Namibians, 23 Angolans, two Congolese and one a Zimbabwean using a South African passport.

The ultimate destination of the aircraft remained unclear last night, although the tiny oil-rich African country of Equatorial Guinea yesterday said it had arrested 15 suspected mercenaries which it claimed were connected with the 64-strong group.

But another version was that the men were part of a security company contracted to provide perimeter security for mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and had stopped in Zimbabwe for supplies.

Agustin Nse Nfumu, information minister in Equatorial Guinea, said the 15 were an advance party for the group arrested on Sunday night when a US-registered charter plane was impounded at Harare International Airport.

Rumours have been circulating in Malabo, capital of the former Spanish colony, about an imminent coup and Mr Nfumu alleged that the men were part of a plot to remove President Teodoro Obiang. He has been in power since a bloody coup in 1979.

Control of Equatorial Guinea has become more important in the last decade since vast oil reserves were found in its off-shore waters. It is the third largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Angola, producing 350,000 barrels a day.

While there was no independent confirmation of the claims, a diplomatic source in America gave them some credence, saying the aircraft landed in Zimbabwe to collect weapons produced by Zimbabwe Defence Industries.

ZDI is run by Tshinga Dube, a close associate of President Mugabe, and is one of several Zimbabwean companies which are the subject of strict economic sanctions by the United States.

The source said an apparent breakdown in communication among the elite who run Harare airport led to the aircraft being impounded once an irregularity was found in its manifest.

Mr Nfumu said the 15 detainees included white South Africans, black South Africans of Angolan origin, a German and others from Kazakhstan and Armenia who had been in Equatorial Guinea since December.

"Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here . . . and it was connected with that plane in Zimbabwe," he said.

"They were the advance party of that group."

[blam]

The plot thickens.

[cyborg]

Hmmm.... this is getting interesting. Here I used to joke that the scouts were dreaming up revenge ever since 1980.

[archy]

Hmmm.... this is getting interesting. Here I used to joke that the scouts were dreaming up revenge ever since 1980.

Before that, at least a year before.

See you in November.

[cyborg]

I wonder if he's staging all this because he's up for reelection, not that an election process ever stopped Mugabe.

[Clive]

Simon Mann is a merc.

His name has been associated with Sandline and Executive Outcomes.

[Clive]

-

[Travis McGee]

The term merc is rather....murky. Pardon the pun. There really are outfits involved in mining area security etc. What's a valid "security" job, and what's a cover for action....who knows.

[Squantos]

Hey TP..........Their travel agent was Dr John Early !.....:o)

Stay Safe !

[cyborg]

Through Harare Airport? I'm not complaining though, at least the world picked up its head for fifteen minutes. I heard a very brief mention on a few talk shows and then ((((crickets))))).

[Clive]

When Sandline and Executive Outcomes take on a security job, its scale is way beyond providing night watchmen for a factory perimeter.

These outfits ere hired by the Sierra Leone government, with a wink and a not from the British government, to deal with the Charles Taylor sponsored insurgent RUF.

They were doing a good job of it until the United Nations and an american named Jesse Jackson interfered and forced the Lome agreement on the parties.

Then the situation deteriorated to the point where I recall that you and I were calling it FUBAR until the Brits put a task force consisting of HMS Illustrious with its Harriers, HMS Ocean with its embarked Marine Commando 42, RFAs and escorts and put 1st para into Freeport airport, ostensibly for the purpose of extracting Brit and Commonwealth nationals.

While the Brit deployment did foster clearer thinking in the RUF and in their patron Charles Taylor, it would have been better had Sandline and Executive Outcomes been left alone to finish the job.

At one point there was a picture printed by the Times, to the embarrassment of HM government, showing a Sandlind helicopter aboard HMS Cornwall(F99, Type 22 frigate).