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Where was flight N4610 heading?
Severely EFLThey were 64 "heavily built men", mostly white. No, they were all black. No, only 40 of them were black. The plane left South Africa illegally from Wonderboom airport, strayed into Zimbabwe airspace and was ordered down. No, the plane left the country legally, having filed a flight plan to Harare and then on to Burundi. No, the plane was headed for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The men on board were suspected of being mercenaries hired to overthrow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. No, they were on their way to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. No, they were going to the eastern DRC to carry out security duties. These are just some of the stories surrounding the flight of N4610, a Boeing 727-100 cargo plane that has been impounded in Harare. And 64 - though some reports say there are 67 - of those who were aboard, whether they were white, black or a mixture, and whether they were mercenaries or honest men, are in Harare cells facing intense interrogation. Iâm not scared of a pair of plyers, you can eeeaaarrrrgghhh!! Some sources say the drama began in November 2003 or December when the company Logo Logistics acquired a fishing concession in Equatorial Guinea and bought or hired fishing trawlers. "Those guys have never caught a fish in their lives," one source said. The trawlers were really to be used first to reconnoitre and then to transport mercenaries to oust the government of unpopular President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in a coup, the sources said. Though part of Equatorial Guinea is on the African mainland, its capital Malabo is on the island of Bioko, and it appears that a seaborne coup was planned, though it is not clear from what staging post it would happen. Equatorial Guinea and its immediate neighbouring island state of Sao Tome and Principe have become ripe for coups since oil was recently discovered in their waters. That has made them big prizes for greedy politicians and those who help them to acquire power. Sao Tome experienced a coup in 2003, which was reversed by African Union intervention. On Tuesday the Mbasogo government announced that it had arrested 15 "mercenaries" in Malabo, including white South Africans, black South Africans of Angolan origin and a few people from Kazakhstan, some Armenians and a German. "It was connected with that plane in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group," Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu said. He said the 15 had been in the country since December. The arrests in Malabo corroborate the account of South African security sources that the real destination of the plane seized in Harare was Equatorial Guinea, though other destinations have been claimed. South African civil aviation sources say Harare was on the aircraftâs official flight plan - en route to Burundi. On Tuesday, a company named in connection with the flight disputed all the speculation, saying the "mercenaries" were in fact security people "going to eastern DRC". Charles Burrow, a senior executive of Logo Logistics which had chartered the Boeing 727 freighter, said via telephone from London that most of the people on board were South African and had military experience, but were on contract to four mining companies in the DRC. He declined to name the companies. Posted by: Evert Visser in NL 2004-03-16 |
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