SA legal eagle in E Guinea
2004-03-19 08:33
Johannesburg - The deputy head of the South African national prosecuting authority, Jan Henning SC, arrived quietly in Equatorial Guinea in the early hours of Thursday morning after South Africa was asked for assistance.
Help was requested in connection with seven South Africans who have been held in Equatorial Guinea since early March after it was claimed they were involved in a coup planned to oust President Obiang Nguema.
Henning said shortly after his arrival: "So far, I haven't spoken to anyone or seen anyone - only mosquitoes."
He said he had been sent there as a matter of urgency after "the people" of Equatorial Guinea had asked for help in handling the South Africans.
"Our main goal will be to help the prosecuting authority, if they have something like that, and the police and to give advice.
"It seems as if they are not quite sure how they should handle the situation."
Henning said a few senior police officers and senior officials of the department of foreign affairs accompanied him on the trip.
Visited the men
The team managed to visit the prisoners late on Thursday after talks with Equatorial Guinean authorities.
There is concern about the conditions in which the men are being held after the death of a German, Gerhard Eugen Nershz, of cerebral malaria. He was employed by South African Nick du Toit.
A non-official, independent website in Equatorial Guinea, however, said Nershz's legs and arms were cut up and he had huge, rotting wounds on his buttocks when he died.
The website is run by the Association for Democratic Solidarity in Equatorial Guinea.
Antonia Fernando Nve, speaking for the Equatorial Guinea government, said that Nershz was transferred on Tuesday from the central prison in Malabo to a hospital on the prison doctor's orders.
Nershz was correctly treated, but died of complications within a few hours.
According the website, the men are being held on an old ship near an area known as Black Beach.
The website claims they are regularly and severely tortured and have received no medical care on the ship, which is apparently a "stinking cesspit".
Samuel Monaisa, South Africa's ambassador to Gabon, who is also responsible for Equatorial Guinea, led the team that included Henning.
One of the men, "Bone" Boonzaaier, is also ill because he is dependent on daily medication that he hasn't had since the men's arrest. The team took him some medication.