Zuma "did not intervene" in release of British, SA mercenaries

Nov 3, 2009, 10:40 GMT

Johannesburg - South African President Jacob Zuma did not intervene with Equatorial Guinea to obtain the release of convicted British coup plotter Simon Mann and four accomplices, including a South African, his spokesman said Tuesday.

'The answer is categorically 'No',' Vincent Magwenya, Zuma's spokesman told the German Press Agency. 'The president did not intervene.'

Equatorial Guinea's information ministry said in a statement that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema had granted Mann a pardon on humanitarian grounds, a year after the British mercenary was sentenced to 34 years in prison for plotting to overthrow Nguema.

The information ministry referred to an upcoming visit by Zuma in the statement.

'The orders (pardons) were signed on the eve of the official visit by the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, to Equatorial Guinea,' it said.

Zuma's spokesman confirmed he was travelling to Africa's third-largest oil producer later Tuesday for a one-day visit, during which he would be meeting with Nguema, but said the Malabo government's linking of the events 'was as much a surprise to us, as it is to you.'

'It's a very quick in-and-out type of visit around strengthening political and trade relations between Equatorial Guinea and South Africa,' Magwenya said.

'There's a major infrastructure development process currently taking place in Equatorial Guinea and South Africa will obviously will be looking at possible participation around those infra development projects,' he said.

Magwenya also referred to Equatorial Guinea's oil as something energy-starved South Africa was interested in, as well as the tiny country's membership of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC).

'Equatorial Guinea is an important and strategic counterpart in the process of forging ties with that region,' he said.

Mann was arrested in Zimbabwe in 2004 along with 69 others when they attempted to pick up a shipment of arms in Harare en route to Equatorial Guinea. He spent four years in prison in Zimbabwe before being extradited to Malabo.

South African arms dealer Nick du Toit, who was sentenced to 34 years in prison in 2004, has also been pardoned.