Gus, we have had that mercenary stuff in local South African papers for months already.
And, I have to say, however bad Thatcher & Co appear to be, something simply doesn't add up about their alleged coup in Equatorial Guinea:
1. The plane carrying the mercenaries took off from a local civil airport and then landed at the local military airport, all in full view of the SAn authorities. This cannot happen unless sanctioned by the SAn government. No civilian aircraft is permitted to land at a military airfield unless in the direst of emergencies, which this was not.
2. Meanwhile, alleged ring-leader Nick du Toit was holding press conferences while this was going on. This guy, besides being a one time member of the old regime's elite 32 battalion and a known mercenary, has big business interests in Equatorial Guinea, especially deep-sea fishing. He is also well-connected to the local banks. And, he is well-connected to the President and government of EG.
3. The plane then takes off from Waterkloof air base, Pretoria, and lands at Lusaka, Zimbabwe, in a remote part of the airfield, apparently to pick up weapons. I ask you, Lusaka? And, to buy weapons?! For this plane, carrying SAn and UK mercenaries, to land in Zimbabwe is equivalent to an Israeli plane landing in Teheran to buy weapons prior to conducting a "secret" mission. It simply doesn't make sense, especially since EVERYONE knew about it. There was absolutely nothing clandestine.
3. Anyway, the plane was immediately impounded for some minor technical infringement and the occupants, none carrying weapons, were arrested and thrown in jail. They said they were going to the Congo or Sudan or wherever. All in all, between these and the ones apparently held on EG, there are about 100 mercenaries. They are frequently shown here on TV, about half are black and many of the white ones look well over 50 years of age. Not a particularly impressive lot, I can tell you and hardly an army which anyone in their wildest dreams could seriously believe could perform a coup d'etat in the country with the third biggest oil production in Africa.
4. Yesterday, Thatcher was arrested. Apparently the evidence against him is that Mann sent him a letter asking him to use his influence to get him out of jail. Also, Thatcher is alleged to have given $275,000 to finance the venture. This has to be bullshit -- who ever heard that for $275K one can finance the take-over of BILLIONS of dollars worth of oil production using 100 unemployed riff-raff?! One can't buy too many oil shares for that money! So, to me, something is seriously wrong somewhere --- I don't believe the story but what it's really about that I can't tell you.
Meanwhile, Nick du Toit has something new to say every day --- even though he is allegedly facing the death sentence. |
