SA's 'Dogs of War' Look in Vain for Benefit of Judges' Earlier Mercies

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SA's 'Dogs of War' Look in Vain for Benefit of Judges' Earlier Mercies

Johannesburg

It's not clear whether the 69 South African citizens currently held in a maximum-security prison in Zimbabwe did in fact intend going to Equatorial Guinea to attempt a coup.

It does seem suspicious that one of the people arrested in Equatorial Guinea and one arrested in Zimbabwe had apparently dealt with a Zimbabwean arms dealer . SA's intelligence services seem to be convinced their intention was to attempt a coup.

The men strenuously dispute it not surprising, given the horrors endured by those who tried to overthrow the government of the small, oil-rich state in the past.

If they were in fact going to attempt a coup, you have to query their sanity. The idea that a few hundred men can overthrow a government with 61 AK-47 rifles and 20 light machine guns is a quaint notion rooted in Evelyn Waugh novels.

Moreover, if their intention was a coup, it's hard to feel sorry for them. Africa has been blighted by coups for nearly a century. They have been typically engineered by people with more power than a band of foreigners with a single planeload of arms.

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