Johannesburg - South Africa on Tuesday was moving to bring home
four citizens freed by Equatorial Guinea, as President Jacob Zuma
prepared to visit the West African state.
Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday pardoned South African mercenary Nick
du Toit, Briton Simon Mann and three other South Africans jailed
for a failed coup plot in the West African nation in 2004.
The four South Africans were released into the custody of the
country's embassy in Malabo on Tuesday, the foreign ministry
said in a statement acknowledging "the humanitarian
gesture" by the Equatorial Guinea government.
"The embassy officials, working together with the families of
the four, are in the process of facilitating their return to South
Africa," the ministry said.
Zuma will visit Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday with his foreign,
energy and state security ministers to boost ties with the oil-rich
state.
"South Africa is keen to promote economic relations in the
areas of agriculture, mining, energy, tourism and infrastructure
development," his office said.
The British and South African mercenary leaders were jailed for 34
years each for their role in a plot to oust President Teodoro
Obiang Nguema as head of the former Spanish colony.
SAPA |