WHITE RIVER - South Africa said Saturday it would deport as soon as possible 95 Libyans arrested at a camp being investigated for running military-style training in violation of regulations.
The men were arrested on Friday in a raid at the remote camp in the northeastern province of Mpumalanga that borders Mozambique and Eswatini.
Police said the Libyans entered South Africa in April on visas issued for instruuction as security guards. However, police suspected they were receiving military training.
The Home Affairs department said the visas had been “irregularly acquired” in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, and based on “misrepresentation”. They had been cancelled and the men faced deportation.
“It’s clear to us that their being here is illegal...We would want them to be out if the country as soon as possible but we will follow due process,” national police minister Senzo Mchunu told reporters.
A sign leading to the facility outside of White River, about 360 kilometres (220 miles) east of Johannesburg, describes it as an academy offering “specialised security training”.
It was registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) but appeared to have gone beyond the brief of training for security guards, Mchunu said.
“All indications are pointing to this being more of a military training facility than an ordinary security training centre,” he said.
“If you like, (it is) wholly military and less, or partially, security.”
Television footage of the camp showed military-style tents but the arrested men were in civilian clothes.
Weapons found at the camp were all legal, national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola told reporters.
However, questions had to be answered about training “which appears to be basically and fundamentally military,” Mchunu said.
- Large security industry -
South Africa has a huge private security industry that includes training.
There are more than 15,000 security firms employing about 2.8 million guards, providing armed response and training services, according to PSIRA.
Police have said the owner of the security company that runs the facility is a South African national. He was not under arrest Saturday but was under investigation, they said.
Most of the detained Libyans did not speak English and it was not immediately clear whether they were affiliated to any group.
Libya has struggled with years of unrest since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. It is split between a UN-recognised government in Tripoli and the rival administration backed by strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east.
Rival factions are known to have sought security training with private companies abroad to create elite military units, Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in Britain, told AFP.
He pointed to a recent The Irish Times report saying an Irish firm was paid to train Haftar’s forces.
The UN-recognised Libyan government said in a statement it “formally and clearly denies” any affiliation with the men in South Africa.
People living around the camp told AFP that the men had been in the area since around April.
“They would come and sell their clothes... they would come buy alcohol and try to talk to us,” said Ayanda Shabangu, 20.
The men were always in large groups and their presence had worried locals, said Muzi Bulunge.
“They would speak a language we don’t understand... out of 10, only one would speak English,” he said. “We are scared because we didn’t know what they were here for.”
