|
JOBS | TENDERS | DATING |
|
|
THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 10 2012 07:45 | LAST UPDATED Feb 10 2012 07:45 |
|
The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it is investigating reports that South African mercenaries are training pro-junta recruits in Guinea. "There have been both true and false leads about this story so we are very carefully checking on the veracity of it," Department of Foreign Affairs Director General Ayanda Ntsaluba told a media briefing. Witnesses in Guinea told Agence France-Presse on Monday that South African and Israeli army instructors, hired by the ruling junta, are training recruits in a camp in Forecariah, 100km south of the capital, Conakry. Speaking two weeks after four South African mercenaries were pardoned in Equatorial Guinea for a failed coup bid, Ntsaluba said "nefarious activities" could harm the country's international ties. "We do not want to see our citizens involved in nefarious activities abroad. These could undermine our foreign policy," he said. The new soldiers recruited by the junta, which seized power in Guinea on December 23 last year, are being trained in a camp formerly used to house Sierra Leone refugees outside Forecariah. About 40 military instructors are training soldiers "recruited on the basis of their ethnicity" as they belong to the same group as junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, witnesses said. Observers accuse the junta, under increasing international pressure after the massacre of more than 150 opposition supporters at a rally in September, of recruiting young men from Camara's home region close to Liberia and Sierra Leone. -- AFP  CONTINUES BELOW TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
comment guidelines
|
Client Media Releases
IN THIS WEEK'S PAPER
SUBSCRIBE: - Paper edition - iPad edition (NEW!) - Kindle edition - Digital edition Read stories online  @mailandguardian - Top stories & newsflashes @NicDawes - M&G editor Nic Dawes @ChrisRoperZA - Editor, M&G Online @amabhungane - M&G Centre for Investigative Journ @mgfeed - Our whole news feed Advertisements |
Contact Us | About Us | Story Tip-offs | Social media policy | Online Advertising | Print Advertising | Subscriptions | Topics A-Z | Mobile Sites | Privacy Policy | RSS Feed
All material © Mail & Guardian Online. Material may not be published or reproduced in any form without prior written permission.
 |
 |