Mystery plane siezed in zimbabwe

[Mister Frag 0]

Sorry, I can't tell you that, but I'd bet that Executive Outcomes and Sandline International worked both sides of some of these coup attempts.

[hellfish6 7]

Actually, Executive Outcomes only worked for governments - in fact, they crushed several coup attempts, civil wars and rebellions. They never worked for non-governmental groups/forces.

Sandline might be different, but I doubt many African rebel movements could afford their services.

Historically in Africa, mercs tended to work only for governments (be they African, American, Russian, etc) and were very rarely freelance or rebel-funded. In the Congo, mercs were hired to bolster the pathetic governmental army. In one battle, 40 mercs were able to secure a town that 4000 Congolese army troops were repulsed from.

[ran 0]

Sandline's activities have ended earlier this year (mid-april) by the way.

[hellfish6 7]

Are they out of business?

[Balschoiw 0]

They´ve moved on to Iraq  

Sandline Mercenaries Operating In Iraq

Quote[/b] ]PORT MORESBY (The National Online/Pacific Media Watch): Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Spicer, the Sandline mercenary of the Bougainville crisis fame of 1997, has resurfaced in Baghdad, Iraq, to head what is undisputedly the biggest private army in the world.

The Briton, whose Sandline mercenaries were expelled from PNG that year in a military-inspired protest led by Major General Jerry Singirok, this time has the full backing of the occupation authorities in Iraq.

They have awarded his new company, Aegis Defence Services, a US$293 million (about K1.6 billion) contract to coordinate all the security for Iraqi reconstruction projects.

The latest rogue-to-riches episode in the life of this controversial figure and his new company has been released by a US-based military watchdog, Corpwatch, on its website http://www.corpwatch.org

A June 9 article by Pratap Chatterjee on the website said that the US-led occupying forces’ Army Transportation command awarded Aegis Defence Services, the contract on May 25 this year.

Lt-Col Spicer, a former officer with the SAS, an elite regiment of British commandos, has been investigated for illegally smuggling arms and planning military offensives to support mining, oil, and gas operations around the world including PNG at the height of the Bougainville crisis when he was engaged by the Chan-Haiveta Government at a cost of some US$35 million (then about K50 million) to quell the rebellion.

"I am pleased to confirm that we’ve been awarded a contract to assist the Project Management Office (PMO) in Iraq by the United States Department of Defence," Lt-Col Spicer was quoted as telling Corpwatch on the website.

He told the watchdog that he started Aegis just over a year ago on Piccadilly in London, only a short walk from Buckingham Palace.

"The contract involves coordination of security support for reconstruction contractors and for the protection of PMO personnel," he said.

Under the "cost-plus" contract, the military will cover all of the company's expenses, plus a pre-determined percentage of whatever they spend, which critics say is a licence to over-bill. The company has also been asked to provide 75 close protection teams - comprised eight men each - for the high-level staff of companies that are running the oil and gas fields, electricity, and water services in Iraq.

Lt-Col Spicer and Sandline International made PNG news again on May 4 this year when it was the subject of a media freedom day panel discussion at the University of PNG in Port Moresby.

Former PNGDF commander Singirok told the discussion that the Sandline assault on Bougainville was due to take place in April 1997 had he not intervened to stop it.

In April this year, Sandline announced on its website that it was closing operations because of "general lack of governmental support for private military companies willing to help in places like Africa".

At the time of its closure, it was still claiming ownership of military hardware, including Russian-made helicopter gun ships and rifles that were in the possession of the PNG Defence Force and those confiscated by Australian Customs and locked up at an Australian air force base at Tindale in central Australia.

Col Spicer's work in PNG, a public relations fiasco, was not even a military success. In 1989, local landowners led by Francis Ona shut down the Bougainville copper mine to protest the environmental destruction it caused and to demand independence.

In February 1997, the Chan government, which had received about 44 per cent of its revenue from the mine, paid Sandline International US$36 million to rout the Bougainvilleans.

The very next month, Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan sacked Gen Singirok for denouncing the contract with Sandline and arguing that the money would be better spent on his own troops, who were desperately underpaid and ill-equipped.

Riots ensued after soldiers loyal to Singirok led protests that included civilians and university students. The soldiers arrested and deported a number of the Sandline contractors under Operation Rausim Kwik.

Less than a month later, dressed in crumpled jeans, Col Spicer was led into a Port Moresby court. His suitcase, bulging with US$400,000 in cash, was produced as evidence of his contract with the Chan government.

At the hearings, Col Spicer revealed that one aspect of the project (code-named "Operation Oyster") was to wage a psychological campaign against the Bougainvilleans with the help of the Russian-style attack helicopters.

Corpwatch reported that following the Sandline fiasco in PNG, Col Spicer's PR machinery hired a ghostwriter to help remake his image for the new millennium.

His 1999 autobiography, An Unorthodox Soldier, presented him as the "modern, legitimate version of the new mercenaries".

+++niuswire

It´s part of the running war/ Bush campaign to reduce the number of serving soldiers and substitute them with paid mercenaries with same rights as troops. That´s a pretty nasty story to gain votes. It´s internationally very unpleasant that a third of the current money of the Iraq war is spent for private security companies services. Tendency rising. That´s a very strange developement. You know, people who get hired for a job, don´t complain when they get killed. Tey don´t get such media echo. But their justification to be there is more than debateable.

Edit: Long but interesting read by the way. Check it out

[ran 0]

Are they out of business?

Sandline's website (they have a more complete update in their news section)

to Bals :

Aegis Defence Services ... is it me or are PMC's flocking to Iraq like flies on a dead carcass ? and it seems like they're breeding as new ones are popping up at a quite fast pace. War is becoming an even more juicy business now that not only weapons but also soldiers are for sale...

[hellfish6 7]

Well, if the US government is willing to pay $100,000+ for a year's tour in Iraq, even I'm tempted to go.

The US has been using PMCs for at least fifteen years in the Middle East - I vividly recall former Special Forces guys, Ghurkas, Brits and almost anyone else you can imagine conducting vehicle searches at Camp Doha in Kuwait (they were even provided their own M113 with a .50 cal) and at the naval base in Bahrain.

Quite unsettling to actually see a kukri (?) up close and unsheathed.

[ran 0]

Quite unsettling to actually see a kukri (?) up close and unsheathed.

gotta love Ghurka Security Guards .Ltd

[Mister Frag 0]

Quite unsettling to actually see a kukri (?) up close and unsheathed.  

I thought that once it was unsheathed, it HAD to draw blood. Is that just a myth?

[Pathy 0]

Myth. The Khurki is a general tool that in Nepal is used from a very early age to cut firewood ect.....if blood had to be drawn everytime it was unsheathed, these people would bleed to death  

Another myth of the Ghurkas is that they throw thier Khurki....most of these myths arent true. However, just look up Ghurkas on the web and have a look at thier combat history (there is an account of every VC winning action by the Ghurkas on the MOD site, which is where most of my limited knowledge comes from) and you will see that thier fearsome reputation is much deserved.  

You would not want to piss one off....  

[hellfish6 7]

We were drunk and asked to see it. I didn't think to check if my limbs were all still intact afterwards.

[Mister Frag 0]

From http://www.cnn.com/2004....ex.html

Quote[/b] ]HARARE, Zimbabwe -- A court in Zimbabwe has found a Briton alleged to be the leader of 70 men accused of plotting to topple the government of the oil-rich West African country of Equatorial Guinea guilty of weapons offenses.

Simon Mann, a former member of Britain's SAS special forces unit, was convicted by a magistrate at a court in a Harare prison Friday of attempting to possess dangerous weapons, Reuters reported. He faces up to 10 years in jail when he is sentenced on September 10.

The magistrate acquitted most of the suspected mercenaries charged with weapons offenses.

They had pleaded guilty to lesser charges of violating immigration laws when their plane landed in Harare in March and were remanded in custody until Sept. 10. according to The Associated Press.

Sixty-six men, all traveling on South African passports, were found not guilty of the weapons charges. Prosecutors dropped charges against two and could not say what happened to another defendant.

"There was no clear evidence to connect accused persons to the purchase of firearms. In fact the state conceded there was no direct evidence connecting them," said Harare magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe, according to Reuters.

"The state has failed to discharge its onus of proving the accused persons guilty beyond reasonable doubt. In the result I find the accused not guilty as charged," he said to loud cheers from relatives and some of the defendants.

The verdicts were handed down two days after Mark Thatcher, the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested in South Africa, accused of helping to finance the coup plot.

He was placed under house arrest and surrendered his passport, a spokesman said. Thatcher, who lives near Mann in Cape Town, later issued a statement denying he had done anything wrong.

Thatcher's spokesman later sought to distance him from Mann. Lord Bell said Thatcher had been dragged into the affair because of "guilt by association."

"Mark Thatcher and Simon Mann were friends, nobody has ever denied that," he told the BBC.

"But it doesn't follow that because you are friends with someone you are necessarily involved in what they are doing."

'Normal deal'

Separately, Equatorial Guinea put more than a dozen people on trial Monday in the alleged plot to topple the oil-rich nation's president. One other defendant died in custody under suspicious circumstances.

One of the defendants testified Wednesday that Thatcher met Mann in July 2003.

Nick du Toit, a South African arms dealer, said Thatcher expressed interest in buying military helicopters for a mining enterprise in Sudan, but described the meeting as a "normal business deal" unrelated to the alleged coup plot.

The defendants in the trial in Zimbabwe -- South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese, a Zimbabwean and Mann, a UK national -- are former members of South Africa's apartheid-era military.

They denied plotting to oust Obiang, maintaining they were traveling to guard mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo when they were detained.

Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Ministry said the group's aircraft was carrying military equipment when it was impounded at Harare.

Items displayed for reporters included camouflage uniforms, an inflatable dinghy, portable radios and tools such as bolt cutters, but there was no indication that the aircraft carried any weapons.

[turms 0]

Was Nick du Toit one of the founders and owners of Executive outcomes?

[Mister Frag 0]

That's not entirely clear -- he's certainly been involved with them, though. Simon Mann is known as the founder of Executive Outcomes.

[hellfish6 7]

Wasn't there a du Toit in the South African Special Forces who got captured in Angola in the 80s? I remember it being a fairly famous case. I wonder if it's the same one. I'll have to look him up...

[Mister Frag 0]

Wasn't there a du Toit in the South African Special Forces who got captured in Angola in the 80s? I remember it being a fairly famous case. I wonder if it's the same one. I'll have to look him up...

Yes, same guy.

[Bernadotte 0]

Quote[/b] ] ...

The verdicts were handed down two days after Mark Thatcher, the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested in South Africa, accused of helping to finance the coup plot.

...

Geez what is it with the children of former world leaders, these days?

[Mister Frag 0]

From http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/08/31/eg.trial.reut/index.html

Quote[/b] ]Equatorial Guinea halts coup trial

Tuesday, August 31, 2004 Posted: 7:40 AM EDT (1140 GMT)

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (Reuters) -- A judge in Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday suspended the trial of 14 suspected foreign mercenaries accused of plotting to overthrow its president, saying more time was needed to investigate the case.

"This court decrees the suspension of this trial for the time it will take for all complementary investigations to be conducted," Judge Salvador Ondo Ncumu told the court.

"If we want a trial that will establish as much as possible what really happened, the court considers that it should grant the request of the prosecution," he said.

The prosecution earlier asked for the indefinite suspension of the trial, saying new evidence was coming to light every day from investigations outside the oil-rich former Spanish colony.

It pointed to the arrest last week in South Africa of Mark Thatcher, the 51-year-old son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was detained on suspicion of helping finance the plot.

Of the 14 foreign suspects on trial in the Malabo court, only one has admitted taking part in a coup attempt: South African arms dealer Nick du Toit, for whom prosecutors want the death penalty.

The seven other South Africans and six Armenians also being tried have denied all knowledge of any coup attempt, as have five Equatorial Guineans also on trial.

Looks like Nick du Toit might be in a bit of a pickle...