strange things happening in Zimbabwe
 

Mar. 9, 2004. 01:00 AM

Zimbabwe nabs `mercenaries'
`Heavily built males,' military gear on plane

Destination of U.S.-registered jet investigated


HARARE?Zimbabwe is holding a U.S.-registered cargo plane that the government says was carrying suspected mercenaries and a cargo of military gear.

The United States said it had no connection with the plane, whose origin and destination remained a mystery.

The aging Boeing 727-100 aircraft was impounded Sunday evening at Harare International Airport "after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said in a statement yesterday.

"The plane was actually carrying 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities," Mohadi said, adding an investigation had also found military materiel. Television pictures showed such hardware as satellite telephones, army boots, military knives and sleeping bags.

Authorities said no formal charges had been made, and investigations were under way to establish the identities of passengers and the nature of the trip.

Footage on state television showed a white plane with the code N4610 painted on the body. Passengers and crew, all of them "heavily built males" and most of them white, were taken to a nearby military base for detention, state television said.

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher told reporters: "We have no indication this aircraft is connected to the U.S. government." But a senior U.S. official said the government wanted to complete its checks before definitively ruling out a connection.

The Pentagon also denied a connection with the aircraft. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been in a war of words with the United States and former colonial power Britain, which have accused him of a political crackdown following his victory in 2002 presidential elections which the opposition and Western observers said were flawed.

Mugabe accuses Western powers of attempting to undermine his government in retaliation for his controversial seizure of white-owned farms for distribution to landless blacks.

The plane is registered to Dodson Aviation Inc. of Ottawa, Kan. However, company director Robert Dodson said it had sold the aircraft about a week ago to a "reputable" South African company, Logo Ltd., which was going to use it for "charter flights."

There was no reply at the Pretoria-based company.

REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - Web posted at 8:11:20 GMT

'Namibians among mercenaries' detained in Zimbabwe

TANGENI AMUPADHI
CLOSE to 20 Namibians are among a group of 64 suspected mercenaries who were arrested in Harare with "suspicious equipment", the Zimbabwe state media reported yesterday.

The plane they were travelling on was impounded.

Last night South African sources told The Namibian that most of the men detained in Zimbabwe were 32 Battalion members, and it was possible that Namibians, including former Koevoet members, were part of the group.

The same sources said some Lebanese nationals, allegedly operating through the South African mercenaries group Executive Outcomes, were leading a coup against the government of Equatorial Guinea.

But news agency reports are conflicting.

The South African news agency, Sapa, received a statement from Logo Logistics, which is believed to have links with Executive Outcomes, saying the 64 and their equipment were miners going to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Zimbabwe state media reported that the group consisted of 18 Namibians, one Zimbabwean with a South African passport, 23 Angolans and two Congolese.

Zimbabwe television described the 64 as mostly "white heavily built males" and a news agency journalist said the whites were "taking the leading role".

Zimbabwe, which has been railing against imperialists, announced on Monday that it had seized the US-registered plane.

The announcement came a few days after the Bush administration tightened sanctions again Mugabe's regime over poor human rights.

Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi told journalists that owners made plane "made false declaration of its cargo and crew".

"The plane was actually carrying 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities," the French news agency, AFP, quoted Mohadi, adding the "further investigations also revealed that on board the plane was military material".

That equipment, shown on state television, included satellite telephones, compasses, radios, military-style knives and boots, bolt-cutters and sleeping bags.

Zimbabwe television opined that it was the sort of gear usually used by "commandos on a special mission", but Jim Pippin, who saw it being loaded aboard the aircraft at the Wonderboom airport just north of Pretoria, told AFP: "It looked more like people going on a mining operation.

It's certainly not the type of stuff I would like to start a war with."

It would seem the well-laid plans of mice and Mercs hath gone astray. Smacks of a good suspense thriller where money and information changes hands once the Mercs are down the runway and on the way. Occupational hazard of contracting to one corrupt bandit to go snuff another corrupt bandit I suppose.

About all that can be for certain is that someone(s) in Zimbabwe are going to be buying a new car and living high for a while but, alas, have made a spot on a list for some payback and then the cycle repeats. Africa, timeless Africa.

Scamp