• British wildlife investor seeks land in Zambia
• 'Mercenary' arrests cause stir across Africa
• South Africa battles image as home to 'dogs of war'
• Zimbabwe journalists accused of joining US-UK plot
• South Africans on board impounded plane
• South Africa urged to increase pressure on Zimbabwe
• Clearing of Land At Ranch Slow - Mudenge
• 'Known SA mercenary' on seized plane
• Agriculture: Hopes rekindled - 3
• Harare accuses ex-SAS man of links to detained 'mercenaries'
• JAG Classifieds

British wildlife investor seeks land in Zambia
By Business Reporter
A BRITISH investor who has teamed up with the Lion and Cheetah Park of
Zimbabwe has made an urgent request for land to set up a tourist attraction
in Zambia.

Messrs Patrick and Johnny Gallagher said in a communiqué in Ndola that the
Lion and Cheetah Park, located in Harare, was one of the successful tourist
attractions in the region.

The park was, however, occupied by war veterans making it difficult to
repair and get it running again.

Due to the volatile political nature, the firm now wished to relocate to a
more stable environment.

Interest had been sparked by a recent Press release regarding the promotion
of tourism and conservation of wildlife in Zambia.

The would-be investors further said the nature of the project was labour
intensive and the duo, inclusive of the management team at Lion and Cheetah
Park, would need to employ a local workforce of between 30-80 people.

This figure would be expected to increase to over 100 within 12 months as
the venture stabilises.

The Gallaghers said despite being in contact with the Zambian mission in
London, they would appreciate any help they could receive locally.

      South Africa battles image as home to 'dogs of war'
      Tuesday, March 9, 2004 Posted: 7:06 PM EST (0006 GMT)

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      JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- The arrest of suspected
mercenaries in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea has raised accusing fingers in
the direction of South Africa, battling to shed its image as the world's
biggest supplier of dogs of war.

      The toppling of apartheid white rule in 1994 ended South Africa's
years of military confrontation with its black neighbours but left a large
pool of trained soldiers available as hired guns in trouble spots from
Sierra Leone to Iraq.

      South Africans have for years rivalled the band of hardened war dogs
led by veteran French mercenary chief Bob Denard, whose exploits in trouble
spots across Africa since the 1960s have become part of the continent's
folklore.

      These days Private Military Companies, as the guns for hire groups
prefer to be known, can be found operating out of countries around the
world, recruiting former special forces soldiers and increasingly opening
offices in Eastern Europe.

      "The Ukrainians are the cheap hired muscle at the moment. But the
quality is low," one English-based PMC operative told Reuters on condition
of anonymity.

      The Zimbabwe government said on Monday it had impounded a
U.S.-registered Boeing 727-100 aircraft at Harare airport on Sunday which it
said was carrying 64 suspected mercenaries and a cargo of military gear.

      On Tuesday Equatorial Guinea, an impoverished and unstable state
wedged between Nigeria and Cameroon, said it had arrested 15 mercenaries and
linked them to the Zimbabwe plane.

      The plane's operators, Logo Logistics Ltd, said the group in Harare
were in transit to the Democratic Republic of Congo for mine security and
logistical work.

      Its spokesman Charles Burrows told Reuters most of the group were
South Africans and had military experience.

      "We're prone to use people with some military training to work in
difficult places because they cope better and they know what they are
doing," Burrows said.

      South Africa reacts
      Even before the nationalities of the passengers on the plane was made
public, South Africa said it had unconfirmed reports that they included its
own nationals.

      "Should the allegations that those South Africans on board are
involved in mercenary activities prove true, this would amount to a serious
breach of the Foreign Military Assistance Act," Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz
Pahad said in a statement.

      South Africa has passed a number of laws to stem the flow of
mercenaries overseas, and last year prosecuted the first defendant -- a
French-born naturalised South African -- for recruiting other mercenaries in
the country.

      Intelligence and security sources in Johannesburg say well over 1,000
armed South African former military personnel are currently employed in all
manner of security duties in Iraq, some working for the United Nations. High
pay, which contrasts with South Africa's own low pay levels for police and
security work, is part of the attraction.

      Arms expert Garth Shelton at Johannesburg's Witwatersrand University
said it was hardly surprising that South Africa was awash with hired guns
after years of active military involvement in Angola and Namibia.

      "Their only skills are military. They are not computer operators, so
they are looking for jobs where they can use their military skills," Shelton
told Reuters.

      Shelton said he had been approached by owners of South African
"security" companies seeking work for their men abroad.

      "One told me he had quite a number of people who were well trained,
former South African Defence Forces (personnel) and he was looking to send
them anywhere in the world," he said.

      "He could provide them at short notice and he asked me if I knew any
country in need of such people."

      Security consultant Herman van der Linde said people were too focused
on South Africa's image as a mercenary exporter.

      "The government is saying they don't want these guys in the military
anymore. They are working as security guards everywhere and everybody is
screaming 'mercenary,"" said van der Linde of Pretoria-based private
think-tank Executive Research Associates.

The Herald (Harare)

March 10, 2004
Posted to the web March 9, 2004

Harare

Masvingo North MP, Cde Stan Mudenge, has expressed concern at the slow pace
at which the 150 000 hectares of irrigable land at Nuanetsi Ranch in the
Lowveld is being cleared amid reports that progress is being slowed by
obsolete machinery.

So far only about 800ha of land have been cleared according to figures made
available by the Agricultural Rural Development Authority which has so far
planted about 100ha of sorghum.

Clearing of land is being done by a Chinese company, China International
Water and Electric Corporation, together with the Central Mechanical
Equipment Department, which is a sub-contractor.

Speaking at a Masvingo provincial development council meeting in Masvingo
last week, Cde Mudenge, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
lamented the slow pace in clearing land at the ranch.

"There has not been much that has been done in clearing land at Nuanetsi
Ranch and Arda and the Chinese company have not done enough. At least much
more land should have been cleared to grow some winter maize and some wheat.

"There is enough water for irrigation at Mutirikwi Dam and there must be no
excuse that the Tokwe-Murkosi dam has not been built. There must be progress
by June this year," said Cde Mudenge.

He said there was a lot of international interest in the Nuanetsi project
and that there were possibilities of enticing Botswana into a joint
partnership in the project since the country imports most of its food.

"Nuanetsi is a star project that has excited the interest of the
international community and there is keen interest by many people on its
progress," he said.

Masvingo governor Cde Josaya Hungwe said clearing and planting were
simultaneously going on at the ranch but conceded that there was a problem
with most of the bulldozers, which were obsolete.

"What also contributed to the delay in clearing the land was the method used
whereby trees were felled and then harvested later.

"Now they are removing the fallen trees as they fell them, which is faster,"
Cde Hungwe said.

He said plans were underway to deploy about 10 000 youths to the area to
assist in the clearing and preparing of the land for planting.

Clearing of land at Nuanetsi, which had been slow, received a major boost
when the Government availed $5 billion for the project in a supplementary
budget in August last year resulting in work starting at the site.

This year the Government has allocated $7 billion for the project which if
fully completed has the capacity to produce over 2 million tonnes of
irrigated maize a year.

Sapa

      Wednesday, March 10, 2004

      THOSE who express anxieties concerning the place of the peasant
farmers in a large- scale farming economy may have a point. They are a dying
breed anyway.

      Because of the archaic methods they employ they cannot produce on the
scale necessary to feed the population at competitive prices. The truth is
that in advanced economies a very small number of farmers provide for entire
populations.

      Large-scale mechanised farming is the only method that can cope with
the demand of today and the future. Then the unviable hands go into down
stream industries created by large scale farming.

      Areas like canning, bottling, plastic manufacturing, crown corks and
so on are usually beneficiaries.

      What the organisers and the government should design into their
programmes is the transition of those who will eventually be displaced.

      What we stand to gain from improved agriculture is infinitely much
more than what we stand to lose. And we do not know what we gain as it is.

      We have highlighted in our leaders on this page a number of times that
we are not taking advantage of the great agricultural potentials of this
great country.

      We had emphasised that if we did, the oil earnings, however much,
would be just the icing on the cake. We have been categorical that we could
earn income from rice that would pay for most of our imports; that we could
do the same from our maize production. Ditto for some of our other grains.

      To earn more from these crops from which we have natural advantage
would de-emphasise our reliance on oil income and diffuse the perennial
tension on revenue allocation. The polity can only gain from ensuing
stability and equanimity.

      We must explain that the situation of Zimbabwe is different from the
situation in Nigeria. For Zimbabwe it is political and cultural. The
dismissed farmers were settlers and once privileged political masters. Here
in Nigeria the Zimbabwe farmers will be merely investors with no more status
than that. They will be subject to our laws, subject to some qualifications,
as individuals and as corporate bodies. They will be coming into our lands
with no special rights.

      Nothing has gladdened our hearts in recent years as these expressions
of interest. We hope the government will do nothing to dampen this hope.

Harare accuses ex-SAS man of links to detained 'mercenaries'

By Tim Butcher in Johannesburg and Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed: 10/03/2004)

Zimbabwe yesterday accused a former SAS officer from Britain of being
involved with an aircraft detained at Harare airport allegedly carrying
military equipment and 64 "suspected mercenaries".

Kembo Mohadi, Zimbabwe's home affairs minister, alleged that Simon Mann, a
former SAS officer living in Cape Town, where he is in the security
business, had travelled earlier to Zimbabwe and went to Harare airport to
meet the aircraft.

But when the authorities searched the aircraft it was found to have filed an
incorrect passenger list and to be carrying what Mr Mohadi described as
"military materiel".

While there is no suggestion of any attempt to destabilise Robert Mugabe's
regime the incident will be treated as a PR coup by his government and an
acute embarrassment for Britain. Mr Mugabe has repeatedly said MI6 and
British security services are operating in Zimbabwe.

Although Mr Mann has long been retired from the British Army he remains
connected with the world of security consultants.

It is not known whether he was detained, although Mr Mohadi said the 64
"suspected mercenaries" were led by a "known mercenary", Simon Witherspoon,
a white South African.

Mr Mohadi claimed that of the 64 men from the seized aircraft 20 were South
Africans, 18 Namibians, 23 Angolans, two Congolese and one a Zimbabwean
using a South African passport.

The ultimate destination of the aircraft remained unclear last night,
although the tiny oil-rich African country of Equatorial Guinea yesterday
said it had arrested 15 suspected mercenaries which it claimed were
connected with the 64-strong group.

But another version was that the men were part of a security company
contracted to provide perimeter security for mining operations in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and had stopped in Zimbabwe for supplies.

Agustin Nse Nfumu, information minister in Equatorial Guinea, said the 15
were an advance party for the group arrested on Sunday night when a
US-registered charter plane was impounded at Harare International Airport.

Rumours have been circulating in Malabo, capital of the former Spanish
colony, about an imminent coup and Mr Nfumu alleged that the men were part
of a plot to remove President Teodoro Obiang. He has been in power since a
bloody coup in 1979.

Control of Equatorial Guinea has become more important in the last decade
since vast oil reserves were found in its off-shore waters. It is the third
largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Angola,
producing 350,000 barrels a day.

While there was no independent confirmation of the claims, a diplomatic
source in America gave them some credence, saying the aircraft landed in
Zimbabwe to collect weapons produced by Zimbabwe Defence Industries.

ZDI is run by Tshinga Dube, a close associate of President Mugabe, and is
one of several Zimbabwean companies which are the subject of strict economic
sanctions by the United States.

The source said an apparent breakdown in communication among the elite who
run Harare airport led to the aircraft being impounded once an irregularity
was found in its manifest.

Mr Nfumu said the 15 detainees included white South Africans, black South
Africans of Angolan origin, a German and others from Kazakhstan and Armenia
who had been in Equatorial Guinea since December.

"Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here . . . and it was connected with
that plane in Zimbabwe," he said.

"They were the advance party of that group."