'Mercenary man' fined

2003-08-01 12:39

Pretoria - A French-born South African was sentenced to five years in prison or a R 100 000 fine in Pretoria on Friday after pleading guilty to involvement in mercenary activities in Ivory Coast.

Richard Rouget, 44, a naturalised South African of French origin, was also sentenced to a further five years, suspended for five years, in the Pretoria Regional Court, on condition that he was not found guilty of a similar offence during that time.

He is the first person to be charged and convicted of violating South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act, aimed at curbing mercenary activity. The 1998 law prohibits any citizen from participating in foreign conflicts without government approval.

"The aim of the act is to discourage and deter people from getting involved in these kinds of activities. I believe this is a serious offence because it reflects on the values enshrined in the constitution," magistrate Adriaan Bekker said while handing down sentencing.

Ivory Coast, a former French colony that was once a model of stability in west Africa, descended into civil war last September, when renegade troops mainly from the predominantly Muslim north staged a rebellion.

On July 4, the warring parties formally declared the war over, after three erstwhile rebel groups joined a unity government in line with a French-brokered peace accord reached in January.

Rouget was arrested by the special investigating Scorpions unit in Johannesburg on Saturday. He pleaded guilty to a charge of participating in mercenary activities in Ivory Coast between November 2002 and January 2003. Rouget recruited 12 South Africans including pilots and ground troops to participate in mercenary acts in Ivory Coast.

The court heard that these South Africans had trained members of the Ivory Coast military and were involved in a number of combat actions for a payment of €6 000 (about R50 000) per month. -AFP

- SAPA