Seized plane left South Africa illegally

[dArKeR]

By Basildon Peta, Peter Fabricius, Reuters and Sapa

The plane carrying 64 suspected mercenaries which Zimbabwe claims was registered in the United States took off illegally from South Africa before being impounded in Harare.

"We have discovered that it took off from Wonderboom Airport (north of Pretoria) which is not an international airport," said Moses Seate, spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA).

"It is illegal to leave the country from an airport that is not designated as an international departure point," said Seate.

A CAA investigator is preparing a report which is to be issued later on Tuesday, he added.

Sixty-four "heavily built men", mostly white, are in Zimbabwe custody after their plane was forced down by Robert Mugabe's air force.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=vn20040309140940220C383988&set_id=1

[dArKeR]

1. Seized plane on civil mission, says operator

"They were going to the eastern DRC. They stopped in Zimbabwe to pick up mining equipment, Zimbabwe being a vastly cheaper place for such," said Charles Burrow, a senior executive of Logo Logistics Ltd which chartered the plane.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1078842785299B251&set_id=1

[seemslikeadream]

11. Going there to help out Barrick?

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=229&row=1

After George Bush Senior left the White House, he became an advisor and lobbyist for a Canadian gold-mining company, Barrick Gold. Hey, a guy’s got to work. But there were a couple of questions about Barrick, to say the least. For example, was Barrick’s Congo gold mine funding both sides of a civil war and perpetuating that bloody conflict? Only one Congressperson demanded hearings on the matter.



You’ve guessed: Cynthia McKinney.



That was covered in the . . . well, it wasn’t covered at all in the U.S. press.



McKinney contacted me at the BBC. She asked if I’d heard of Barrick. Indeed, I had. Top human rights investigators had evidence that a mine that Barrick bought in 1999 had, in clearing their Tanzanian properties three years earlier, bulldozed mine shafts . . . burying about 50 miners alive.

War is Golden for the Bush Administration

And the commodities connection? President Pretzel's relentless hissy-fit for war on Iraq has of course goosed the price of gold enormously--and that's set Bush Family coffers a-clinking. How so? In the waning days of his failed presidency, Bush I invoked an obscure 1872 statute to give a Canadian firm, Barrick Corporation, the right to mine $10 billion in gold from U.S. public lands. (U.S. taxpayers got a whopping $10,000 fee in return.) Bush then joined Barrick as a highly-paid "international consultant," brokering deals with various dictators of his close acquaintance. Barrick reciprocated with big bucks for Junior's presidential run. And in another quid for the old pro quo, last year Junior dutifully approved Barrick's controversial acquisition of a major rival. (Barrick is also one of the biggest polluters in America, by the way.)

Thus every step toward war fills Bush pockets quite literally with gold. That's the way they operate, these liars and thieves in thousand-dollar suits, these secretive fronts who profit from war, fear, blood and greasy palms. They arm the "monsters," they disarm the monsters, making money both ways. Then they drape themselves with Bible and flag, like smug pimps promenading to church, singing "Glory Hallelujah" while the whole world burns.

http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd02152003.html

[Just Me]

38. "Mercenaries",...without weapons????

I see a rabbit hole that has either been vacated or is being used for diversion. This story makes no sense, whatsoever.

[54anickel]

42. Whoa, I didn't know there was a Poppy/Barrick connection. That

makes the Blanchard lawsuit even more intriguing.

[Roon]

2. Who were these mercenaries?

And what were they up to? Any ideas?

[htuttle]

3. Another thread suggests a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea

They caught 16 other mercenaries this week there that they believe were an advance group for the one on the plane. Reports out of Equatorial Guinea also mention a coup attempt within the last 24 hours.

That's Equatorial Guinea -- 'tiny, oil-rich Equatorial Guinea', as one article described it.

[Roon]

39. Thanks n/t

[dArKeR]

4. Zim plane 'not South African' - This story says 'NOT'.

The CAA also confirmed on Tuesday that the plane had in fact landed at Polokwane International Airport. It was previously alleged that it had left South African airspace illegally by flying directly from Pretoria's Wonderboom airport to Harare.

The CAA was awaiting more information before deciding on a further course of action.

The aircraft, which once belonged to the US Air Force, bears the registration number N4610, which the US Federal Aviation Authority says is allocated to a Kansas-based company called Dodson Aviation Inc.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1495694,00.html

[MrPrax]

6. Dobson sells a lot of planes to SA

Many listings of planes leased or sold to SA Air Force?

http://www.douglasdc3.com/dc3ctp/dc3ctp.htm

so who knows...

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. so many rumours

some reports say they can't find out about 'Logo Ltd' or 'Logo Logistics Ltd'; another has a phone interview with a senior executive (but he seems to be in London). He says they were stopping in Zimbabwe to pick up mining supplies; but the report from "The Star" says it was forced down by the Zimbabwean Air Force. Destinations include Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, DRC, and (maybe) Zimbabwe (plus Iraq, perhaps).

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. one more destination, courtesy of a US government official

"We don't think this was an attempt to dot (kill) Mugabe. We think they were just passing through, probably to one of the well-known island trouble spots," an unnamed US official told The Star.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-259_1495693,00.html

"well-known island trouble spots"? Where are those?

[bemildred]

8. Equatorial Guinea would be my guess.

[UpInArms]

12. here's a report suggesting that

Equatorial Guinea was the destination

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-1031897,00.html

Beeld, the Afrikaans-language daily, also reported South African intelligence sources confirming that the aircraft was on its way to Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest oil producer.

Rumours of an impending coup were rife in the country amid growing tensions among President Mbasogo's family, whose members hold most of the top jobs in the country.

Witnesses who saw the aircraft being loaded before it left South Africa said it contained equipment such as hammers, bolt-cutters and shovels.

"It looked more like people going on a mining expedition," one witness said.

"It's certainly not the type of stuff I would like to start a war with," he added.

[bemildred]

13. All speculation, we still know little.

But the US oil industry has longstanding interests
in EG, and it is small and remote, and there is little
reason to think that the citizenry would regret "regime
change" there. it might make a nice base for our "heightened
military interest" in Africa.

[AP]

14. Why would coup plotters on their way to ANYWHERE stop in Zimbabwe?

[bemildred]

15. A good question.

The best suggestion I've heard is that they had problems
and were forced down. Also read they were ratted out by the
SA ATC. I assume you think they were going to Zimbabwe all
along, a possibility, to be sure. I do agree that the idea
that they deliberately stopped there to get special Zimbabwe
things you can't get anywhere else is "fishy".

[AP]

19. Zimbabwe said they caught them lying about their cargo. If you force

someone down (or even if you're only in transit), you don't care what their cargo is because Zimbabwe isn't their final destination.

[bemildred]

20. Zimbabwe has been known to tell fibs too. nt

[AP]

21. Where's the fib on this one? They haven't accused the US of anything, and

everything they've said so far seems to be reasonable.

If they wanted to tell a fib, they would have started saying yesterday that these people were CIA agents and that there were weapons on the plane.

[bemildred]

23. See post #22.

What's a fellow to think?

[AP]

26. That seems pretty consistent with the pieces of info that have been coming

out.

[bemildred]

27. Did you notice there is nothing about lying about the cargo?

They had them pegged already when they landed.

[AP]

29. If they're coming to Zimbabwe to do business,

you'd ask them at customs what they're bringing in and what they're leaving.

If they're buying goods in Zimbabwe, they'd have to declare their money (if they had it with them) for example.

So, they get asked what they have to declare, the customs inspectors board the plane, look around, see they're lying, which triggers arrest, further questioning, etc.

Even if it was a sting, they might still need probable cause -- triggered by lying to customs -- to go more in depth in their search.

Just because it was a sting doesn't make the claim that they lied to customs inconsistent. In fact, it makes it seem more likely. If they told the truth about what they were doing to customs, there might have been no reason to stop them (provided what they claimed to be doing was legal).

[bemildred]

30. It says they were surrounded and seized immediately.

Do you really think Mugabe needs probable cause?

[AP]

31. If they want convictions, they'll probably follow the law.

I notice that Morgan Tsvengerai is on trial right now for treason, but he's not even in custody.

It seems there is some modicum of legal procedure that they follow.

[bemildred]

32. So you don't agree with the story line that

Mugabe is out to make propaganda points with this?

[AP]

33. They were mercenaries. It's like saying the DA made propaganda points

by convicting a homicidal maniac.

I think that storyline isn't incompatible with the facts that have been stated. It explains why they'd even fly into Zimbabwe air space (to buy weapons) and why they didn't have weapons on them already.

It certainly makes more sense than the argument that they were buying mining equipment.

[bemildred]

34. Opinions may vary.

Sources say ZDI boss Col Tshinga Dube was furious after overzealous intelligence
officials blocked the smooth transfer of the equipment to the aircraft and informed
President Mugabe who ordered that it should be grounded.

"When Mugabe learnt that the plane was registered to an American company he saw it
as an opportunity for a propaganda coup....It was the perfect chance to hit back at the
United States," a senior government official privy to the matter said.

Doesn't sound like the conscientious DA doing his job to bring
truth and justice to Zimbabwe to me.

[AP]

36. Is it working, as propaganda?

[bemildred]

37. Hard to tell.

Give it a week or so and let's see what else comes out.

[bemildred]

35. whois newzimbabwe.com:

Registrant:
MDUDUZI MATHUTHU ([e-mail])

10 MILLENIUM COURT BROADWAY
CARDIFF, NONE CF24 1NF
UK
01912142300

Domain Name: newzimbabwe.com

Admin Contact:
nick crane ([e-mail])
domainnamesgb.com
unit12a airport ind est
newcastle, NONE ne3 2ef
UK
01912142300

Technical Contact:
nick crane ([e-mail])
domainnamesgb.com
unit 12a airport ind est
newcastle, NONE ne3 2ef
UK
01912142300


Billing Contact:
nick crane ([e-mail])
domainnamesgb.com
unit 12a airport ind est
newcastle, NONE ne3 2ef
UK
01912142300

[bemildred]

22. Here, some more blather, see what you think:

South Africa, Zimbabwe trained 'mercenaries'

THE South African
government alerted
Zimbabwean authorities to
the plane carrying alleged
mercenaries now detained in
Zimbabwe, New
Zimbabwe.com can reveal.

When the plane landed at the
Harare International Aiport it
was immediately surrounded
and it's occupants detained.

...

Highly placed sources told New Zimbabwe.com that the plane was due to pick-up an
assortment of military weaponry after a deal was clinched between the Zimbabwe
Defence Industries (ZDI) and an unnamed third party.

...

It is unclear if this was a "sting" or of ZDI doing, but the group were told to fly into
Zimbabwe and collect weapons on their way to Equatorial Guinea.

NewZimbabwe.com

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Maybe take this link with a pinch of salt

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane8.1520.HTML

Highly placed sources told New Zimbabwe.com that the plane was due to pick-up an assortment of military weaponry after a deal was clinched between the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) and an unnamed third party.
...
In Zimbabwe, 'mining equipment' is a euphemism for military hardware as it is the same tactic used by President Mugabe's government to cloak its heavy involvement in the DRC since war broke out.
...
Sources say ZDI boss Col Tshinga Dube was furious after overzealous intelligence officials blocked the smooth transfer of the equipment to the aircraft and informed President Mugabe who ordered that it should be grounded.

"When Mugabe learnt that the plane was registered to an American company he saw it as an opportunity for a propaganda coup....It was the perfect chance to hit back at the United States," a senior government official privy to the matter said.

I don't know if that site is partisan for Zimbabwe or not.

Channel 4 News in the UK described it as possibly a 'sting' by the Zimbabwean government - implying they always intended to arrest the mercenaries. They also said Logo Logistics is registered in the Channel Islands - a well known 'light touch' regulatory regime. That also appears on a Reuters report.

[bemildred]

25. Lovely mess, isn't it?

Should only get better with time, too.
It's just a lot harder to fool the natives than it used to be.

[AP]

28. I don't think the "natives" were ever fooled. If they were easy to fool,

the colonizers wouldn't have to have used such violent oppression to get their way.

[KansDem]

18. From the CIA Factbook: 'Equatorial Guinea'

The discovery and exploitation of large oil reserves have contributed to dramatic economic growth in recent years. Forestry, farming, and fishing are also major components of GDP. Subsistence farming predominates. Although pre-independence Equatorial Guinea counted on cocoa production for hard currency earnings, the neglect of the rural economy under successive regimes has diminished potential for agriculture-led growth (the government has stated its intention to reinvest some oil revenue into agriculture). A number of aid programs sponsored by the World Bank and the IMF have been cut off since 1993 because of corruption and mismanagement. No longer eligible for concessional financing because of large oil revenues, the government has been unsuccessfully trying to agree on a "shadow" fiscal management program with the World Bank and IMF. Businesses, for the most part, are owned by government officials and their family members. Undeveloped natural resources include titanium, iron ore, manganese, uranium, and alluvial gold. Growth will remain strong in 2003, led by oil.

Oil - production: 181,400 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: 2,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA (2001)
Oil - imports: NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves: 563.5 million bbl (37257)
Natural gas - production: 20 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 20 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 68.53 billion cu m (37257)

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ek.html

edited for spelling

[AP]

10. NPR reported this morning that the "stopping for equipment" story

doesn't make sense.

A british-accented reporter in Harare said there is no minining equipment that you could use in EG that is (1) cheaper in Zimbabwe than it is in SA and (2) that could have fit on that plane.

Obviously, the last thing they want anyone to believe is that the destination for this plane was Zimbabwe, thus the "forced down" story.

[UpInArms]

9. more info? related article: Unidentified American started military assault

http://english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/96/383/12232_Zimbabwe.html

excerpt:

Company which owns the plane, does not exist

According to the US Civil Aviation Administration, the plane belongs to D?dson Aviation company located in Ottawa (Kansas). Company Director Robert Dodson said that a week before the Boeing had been sold to Logo company in South Africa.

However, South African Press Association reported that no expert in South Africa had heard of existence of the company called "Logo".

Zimbabwe Army is on alert. The plane was transported to Manyame military aerodrome. The passengers are inside the plane.

...more...

it seems so wierd to think that I would find more information in Pravda than a US paper. :shrug:

[bemildred]

16. Thanks for that. Lot's of details. nt

[dArKeR]

17. Forging the airport tower logs, how much did it cost the US tax payers?

After they got caught, how much bribe money did it cost the US tax payers to have the tower logs forged?

[AP]

40. Found this story at Zanu-PF website (ie, take with grain of salt)

One of the links above was to a site with the link to Zanu-PF and MDC web sites, so I was looking around, and I found this story. There's no date on it, but it was near a story dated March 5.


MDC to meet British and US leaders in Botswana
By Our Chief Political Correspondent

The opposition MDC still believes that Zimbabweans cannot solve their own problems and it has emerged that they will send a delegation to Botswana to meet American Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Mr Walter Kansteiner. The delegation will be led by the party’s secretary for legal affairs David Coltart, a former Rhodesian army soldier.

Questions have been asked why the MDC has chosen a former Rhodesian soldier to lead its delegation. The Rhodesian massacred thousands of Zimbabweans at the Chimoio Refugee Camp in Mozambique. It also used biological and chemical weapons against the liberation fighters and the general populace to defend and maintain colonialism in the country.

Well-placed sources have told The Herald that Coltart is a very close personal friend of Mr Kansteiner and that each time the former Rhodesian soldier is in the US he stays at the house of the American. “The close personal friendship of the two has raised eyebrows in the MDC with fears that the personal dimension will compromise the party by leaving it open to further criticism that the MDC is led and manipulated by a network of personal friends with deep seated connections in Rhodesia and right wing America,” the source said.

 Mr Kansteiner’s wife is reportedly a former Rhodesian and is believed to exert tremendous pressure on her husband to defend white interests in Zimbabwe especially those of former white commercial farmers. This explains Mr Kansteiner’s unusually hostile disposition towards Zimbabwe.

Coincidentally Mr Kansteiner is expected to meet the British Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw in Botswana where the US has a military base. South African media reports said US George Bush was sending Mr Kansteiner to the region to persuade African leaders to back its strategy to effect a regime change in Zimbabwe. The meeting in Botswana has been viewed as a new American strategy to have President Mugabe replaced by a new leader from ZANU PF.

http://www.zanupfpub.co.zw/mdc_to_meet_british_and_us_leade.htm

[hellhathnofury]

41. Here's something interesting:

"Coincidentally Mr Kansteiner is expected to meet the British Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw in Botswana where the US has a military base.

No US airbase in Botswana
15 July, 2003

Botswana has reiterated that there is no American airbase on its soil. Press secretary to the President Jeff Ramsay states in a letter of complaint to Mathatha Tsedu, the editor of a South African newspaper, The Sunday Times, that there has never been any US military base in Botswana.

Botswana has reiterated that there is no American airbase on its soil.

Press secretary to the President, Jeff Ramsay states categorically in a letter of complaint to Mathatha Tsedu, the editor of a South African newspaper, The Sunday Times, that there has never been any US military base in Botswana.

He was reacting to a claim in the newspaper's lead editorial that appeared in its July 6, 2003 edition that Botswana "houses a huge US Air Force base".

"This assertion is without foundation," Ramsay said, "In this respect this office has grown weary of denying international press reports to the contrary whose historic origin can be traced to the political ranting of ultra right wing supporters of the old Apartheid regime.

"At the time there were those in South Africa who wished to deny our nation's independent capacity for self-defence in the face of their own acts of aggression.

Unfortunately, over the years some more progressive elements within the region have blindly repeated the disinformation of their historic opponents.

"For the record the government of Botswana reiterates that there is no US military base in Botswana or has there ever been any US military base in Botswana.

"It has been and remains the standing policy of Botswana not to allow any foreign military bases on our territory.

"We further wish to inform your readers that the Botswana defence force's main airbase, located at Mapharangwane, some 70 kilometres west of Gaborone, was built from local funds solely for the domestic defence of our country." BOPA

http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20030715

Edit: And there's this:

U.S. Use of African Military Bases

The United States does not possess its own bases in Africa, but relies on the agreement of African governments to use local bases and other military facilities in times of need. The only country that had concluded a formal agreement with Washington for the use of local military facilities is Kenya, which signed an agreement in February 1980. The Kenyan agreement allows U.S. troops to use the port of Mombasa, as well as airfields at Embakasi and Nanyuki. These facilities were used to support the American military intervention in Somalia in 1992-1994 and have been used in the past year to support forces from the United States and other coalition forces involved in counter-terrorism operations.

snip

The United States has not yet asked other African countries to use their military facilities. It is likely that other facilities, such as the recently expanded air base in Botswana, would be available for the use of U.S. troops if the United States wanted to use them in the future. But this would be up to the host country on a case-by-case basis. The West African country of São Tomé e Príncipe has attracted attention recently by offering to host an American naval base, but the Pentagon is unlikely to take them up on their offer because the facilities are inadequate and are not needed by U.S. forces.

http://www.prairienet.org/acas/military/miloverview.html

[TacticalPeek]

43. Josh Marshall has some interesting spec up on this today.

TalkingPointsMemo

snip
Dodson Aviation of Kansas has a South African
subsidiary, Dodson International Parts SA Ltd
(According to their website, "Dodson
International Parts SA (Pty) Ltd is the African
division of United States based companies
Dodson International Parts Inc. and Dodson
Aviation. The company was established in 1998
and is based at Wonderboom Airport,
Pretoria.") And it was from this subsidiary's
hangar at an airport just north of Pretoria that
the aforementioned mercenaries boarded the
plane.
snip

In any case, here's what I found about Dodson Aviation
Maintenance and Spare Parts.

They come up in the December 2000 Report of the Panel
of Experts to the United Nations on Sierra Leone, in the
section of the report dealing with the arms trade.

Here's the section that caught my eye (italics added) ...

187. Fred Rindel a retired officer of the
South African Defence Force and former
Defence Attaché to the United States, has
played a key role in the training of a Liberian
anti-terrorist unit, consisting of Liberian
soldiers and groups of foreigners, including
citizens of Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso,
Niger and The Gambia.

188. The panel interviewed Mr Rindel
extensively. Rindel was contracted as a
security consultant by President Charles
Taylor in September 1998, and training
started in November 1998. The contract
included consultancy services and strategic
advice to convert Charles Taylor's former
rebel militia into a professional unit. The
Anti-Terrorist Unit is used in Liberia to
protect government buildings, the Executive
Mansion and the international airport, and to
provide VIP Security and the protection of
foreign embassies. The numbers trained
were approximately 1200. Because of
negative media attention, Rindel cancelled his
contract in Liberia in August 2000.
snip

more

---

etcetcetc

The complicated world of spookery.

[seemslikeadream]

44. I read that and it lead me here

very long but very interesting.
http://www.zwnews.com/warbusiness.doc

one tiny snip:

In April 2001, an MPRI representative met with the Pentagon’s regional director for Central Africa to discuss the company’s hopes of winning the contract to train Equatorial Guinea’s forces. “They may need our help or moral support,” Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski wrote in a memo on the meeting, obtained by ICIJ under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. She quoted the MPRI representative as saying that Equatorial Guinea was “the Kuwait of the Gulf of Guinea” and, in a briefing paper three months later, advanced that characterization to “a possible ‘Kuwait of Africa’ with huge oil reserves” that was “US-friendly for both investment and security reasons.” Kwiatkowski also noted in her April memo that the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with Obiang when he visited Washington early in 2001 was an assistant secretary of agriculture – that after French President Jacques Chirac had spared time to meet with him.

Despite concerns about Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record, Obiang’s currency rose dramatically after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. When he visited the United States as it marked the first anniversary of the attacks, Obiang was among 10 African leaders to meet with President George Bush for talks on the prospect of war with Iraq and peace and development on the African continent.

[bemildred]

45. That is quite interesting.

I'll bet Mr. Obiang won't let us continue to "train" his
forces any more after this little incident.