SA men ‘tortured’ in DRC

CAPE TOWN – Hinting at torture, South Africa’s special envoy to the Great Lakes Region told MPs yesterday that alleged coup plotters arrested on the eve of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s historic elections were forced to confess.

“The mission learnt that detainees were (man)handled and robbed of their personal belongings… they were coerced into signing French declarations stating that they indeed came to the DRC to assassinate President [Laurent] Kabila,” ambassador Kingsley Mamabolo told the portfolio committee on defence.Mamabolo was briefing the committee of the arrest of 19 South Africans, three Americans and four Nigerians on May 19 on a charge of destabilising government institutions.Sixteen of the South African detainees worked for a security company, Omega, which was based in Matadi, while the other three worked as interpreters for the mining company Mirabulis.The Omega security firm was offering protection services to one of presidential candidates, US-trained doctor Oscar Kashala, who has not been implicated in the attempted coup d’etat.The detainees were released and deported on May 28, with DRC officials claiming there had been insufficient time to try them before the July 30 elections.In a prepared statement handed to the portfolio committee, Mamabolo suggested that this was a “face-saving measure” and that the arrest of the alleged coup plotters was “motivated by internal political squabbles”.News24they were coerced into signing French declarations stating that they indeed came to the DRC to assassinate President [Laurent] Kabila,” ambassador Kingsley Mamabolo told the portfolio committee on defence.Mamabolo was briefing the committee of the arrest of 19 South Africans, three Americans and four Nigerians on May 19 on a charge of destabilising government institutions.Sixteen of the South African detainees worked for a security company, Omega, which was based in Matadi, while the other three worked as interpreters for the mining company Mirabulis.The Omega security firm was offering protection services to one of presidential candidates, US-trained doctor Oscar Kashala, who has not been implicated in the attempted coup d’etat.The detainees were released and deported on May 28, with DRC officials claiming there had been insufficient time to try them before the July 30 elections.In a prepared statement handed to the portfolio committee, Mamabolo suggested that this was a “face-saving measure” and that the arrest of the alleged coup plotters was “motivated by internal political squabbles”.News24