Mercenary trip home planned
2009-11-04 15:09
Johannesburg - The South African embassy in Equatorial Guinea was making travel arrangements for four South Africans released from prison to return home, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
"They are safe and sound with us at the embassy," said head of the mission in Malabo, Lungile Mkuyana.
He said travel arrangements for the four were in the works, but could not give specifics on when they would return.
"We are arranging something for them," he said.
Chris Greyling, chairperson of the SA Special Forces League, said his organisation had arranged for the four to fly out of the west African country via France on Tuesday night, but these plans were cancelled.
"Foreign affairs said they were arranging something," he said.
24 hours to leave country
The men were released on Tuesday and given 24 hours to leave the country, reports said.
British coup plotter Simon Mann and four South African mercenaries - Nick du Toit, Sergio Cardoso, Jose Sundays and George Alerson - were pardoned by the Equatorial Guinea government.
Their release coincided with a visit by President Jacob Zuma.
The men were convicted in a trial implicating Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as the financier of the plot to overthrow Equatorial Guinea and oust long-serving President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Alerson's wife Lucia on Wednesday said she had received no word on when her husband would return. She said she had not heard from him at all.
The Agence France Presse reported that Mann had already left Equatorial Guinea on a private jet around 07:00 on Wednesday.
The department of international relations and co-operation could not be reached for comment.
- SAPA