Call to retrain mercenaries
2004-02-05 10:34
Johannnesburg - The South African Anti-War Coalition on Wednesday appealed to government to help retrain mercenaries into being more productive members of society.
AWC spokesperson Na'eem Jeenah said there were no programmes that currently helped former Koevoet and special forces operatives into mainstream society.
He said the coalition was extremely concerned to learn that more than 1 500 South Africans were working in Iraq and had asked to meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and other government officials in order to find a way of preventing "soldiers of fortune" from involving themselves in foreign wars.
"In 1998 government instituted the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act which prohibits South Africans from direct participation as combatants in armed conflict for private gain and we want to discuss ways of making sure this act is enforced," Jeenah said.
In December last year while addressing the Nigerian War College in Abuja, South African president Thabu Mbeki said mercenaries were reaching plague proportions in Africa, especially in the west.
The Scorpions crime-fighting unit has started investigating individuals and groups allegedly involved in mercenary activity.
Scorpion spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said they were taking this matter very seriously and had made a few arrests but declared that no statistics would be released at this stage.
- SAPA