SA to bring mercenaries home

2009-11-03 22:30

Johannesburg - South Africa on Tuesday was moving to bring home four citizens freed by Equatorial Guinea, as President Jacob Zuma prepared to visit the West African state.

Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday pardoned South African mercenary Nick du Toit, Briton Simon Mann and three other South Africans jailed for a failed coup plot in the West African nation in 2004.

The four South Africans were released into the custody of the country's embassy in Malabo on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said in a statement acknowledging "the humanitarian gesture" by the Equatorial Guinea government.

"The embassy officials, working together with the families of the four, are in the process of facilitating their return to South Africa," the ministry said.

Zuma will visit Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday with his foreign, energy and state security ministers to boost ties with the oil-rich state.

"South Africa is keen to promote economic relations in the areas of agriculture, mining, energy, tourism and infrastructure development," his office said.

The British and South African mercenary leaders were jailed for 34 years each for their role in a plot to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema as head of the former Spanish colony.

- SAPA