South African officials to visit alleged mercenaries

A delegation from the South African High Commission in Zimbabwe was scheduled to visit the alleged mercenaries in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in the capital, Harare, on Friday.

"The delegation, comprising five officials from our Harare office, is expected to discuss the needs of the detainees - if they need legal assistance, health care - and they will also ascertain the conditions they are being kept in," Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for the South African foreign ministry, told IRIN.

The 70 suspects, who include South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese, a Zimbabwean and a British national, were arrested on 7 March on board a plane that landed at Harare International airport, and have been accused of plotting to overthrow the President of Equatorial Guinea, Obiang Mbasogo.

The men, who all hold South African passports, said they had been contracted to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They were subsequently charged with violating Zimbabwe's Public Order and Security Act, Firearms Act and Immigration Act.

The Harare detainees have been linked to 15 suspected coup plotters arrested in Equatorial Guinea at the same time.

According to Mamoepa, the South African High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Jerry Ndou, has been in regular contact with the men in Chikurubi Prison.

Earlier this week a team of South African officials from the diplomatic mission in neighbouring Gabon visited the eight South African prisoners being held in Equatorial Guinea on allegations of being involved in the same coup plot.

Mamoepa said the officials had found the condition of the detainees "satisfactory".