PRETORIA – A South African court yesterday set July 31 as the trial date for eight South Africans accused of engaging in mercenary work in connection with a coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
The eight men were among 61 arrested in Harare airport on March 7 2004 after their plane landed, allegedly to pick up weapons for a coup to oust Equatorial Guinea’s iron-fisted ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Magistrate Adriaan Bekker of the Pretoria regional court said the trial of Raymond Archer, Victor Dracula, Neves Matias, Mazanga Kashama, Louis du Preez, Errol Harris, Maitre Ruakuluka and Simon Witherspoon should continue through the month of August.The eight men are accused of breaking South Africa’s tough anti-mercenary legislation introduced in 1998 to stamp out mercenary activity and shed the country’s reputation as a springboard for soldiers of fortune in coup-prone Africa.- Nampa-AFPMagistrate Adriaan Bekker of the Pretoria regional court said the trial of Raymond Archer, Victor Dracula, Neves Matias, Mazanga Kashama, Louis du Preez, Errol Harris, Maitre Ruakuluka and Simon Witherspoon should continue through the month of August.The eight men are accused of breaking South Africa’s tough anti-mercenary legislation introduced in 1998 to stamp out mercenary activity and shed the country’s reputation as a springboard for soldiers of fortune in coup-prone Africa.- Nampa-AFP
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