Suspected mercenaries charged

The suspected mercenaries held by the Zimbabwean authorities since last week have all been charged and are likely to appear in court by Wednesday.

Acting Attorney-General Bharat Patel told IRIN on Monday that 67 of the 70 suspects had been charged with violating the Firearms Act. All of them, including three crew members of the Boeing 727-100 that landed in Zimbabwe on 7 March, had been charged with violating the Immigration Act.

The men were reportedly en route to either Equatorial Guinea or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The pilot was alleged to have made a "false declaration" that the plane was carrying no cargo and only seven passengers, but had on board 20 South Africans, 18 Namibians, 23 Angolans, two DRC citizens and one Zimbabwean, all in possession of South African passports.

Patel said the suspects were likely to appear in court on Tuesday, but their lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, told IRIN that all of them had yet to be finger-printed or photographed.

Zimbabwe's official Herald newspaper quoted various lawyers on Monday as saying that the suspected mercenaries could be charged under several laws for their alleged connection to a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. According to the paper, a prominent Harare lawyer, Johannes Tomana, said: "It's certainly chargeable under a number of laws in our statutes," and added that "the Foreign Subversive Organisation Act is one among many laws that cover this in very clear terms".

However, Patel told IRIN that this act, promulgated in 1964, only covered crimes committed in Portugal, while suggesting that extradition was a possibility. South Africa and Namibia have laws prohibiting its citizens from taking part in mercenary activities outside the country. Patel said he had not received a request for the extradition of any of the suspects.

Samkange also told IRIN that his clients were allegedly in possession of a written agreement with the state-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries for a consignment of AK-47s, grenades, rocket launchers and ammunition, for which they had paid US $180,000. He alleged that the weapons were to be used to guard mines in the DRC, for which services his clients had been contracted.

Police could not confirm or deny Samkange's allegations.