South Africa Arrests Nine Zimbabweans Accused of Planning to Fight in Ukraine War

South African police have arrested nine Zimbabwean men who are accused of trying to travel from South Africa to fight in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Police said the nine, aged between 20 and 26, were arrested late on Sunday night, November 8. Five were arrested at O.R. Tambo International Airport, South Africa's biggest airport, and four at a hotel in Bruma, east of Johannesburg, the BBC reported.

Arrests at the airport and a hotel

Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said the arrests followed an integrated multidisciplinary investigation. "Acting on intelligence gathered during the investigation, the multidisciplinary team operationalised an intervention that resulted in the arrest of the nine suspects, aged between 20 and 26, last night," Mogale said. "The suspects were allegedly preparing to board flights out of the country when they were apprehended," she said.

The investigation involved INTERPOL, the Hawks' Crimes Against the State unit and its Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit based in Germiston. International law enforcement agencies, SAPS Crime Intelligence, the Modus Operandi Centre, the Gauteng Provincial Tracking Team and private security companies also took part, according to the African News Agency report of the Hawks statement. The head of the Hawks in Gauteng, Brigadier Paulina Sekgobela, commended the team for its coordinated operation.

Charges under the mercenary law

The suspects are expected to face charges under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act 15 of 1998. The law outlaws mercenary activity without government permission. All nine later appeared in court, according to state prosecutors, the BBC reported. Authorities confirmed that none of the suspects lived in South Africa.

Police have not said whether the group allegedly intended to fight for Russia or for Ukraine. The Associated Press reported that the suspects were trying to travel to Russia. The BBC said their final destination is unclear. Both accounts are reported here as their outlets stated them, and police have not resolved the difference in public statements so far.

A wider recruitment picture

The arrests land against a wider pattern of African recruitment into the war. A Ukrainian intelligence assessment cited by the BBC estimated that more than 1,700 people from 36 African countries had been recruited to fight for Russia. Zimbabwe said in March that 15 of its citizens had been killed in the war and that it was seeking the return of 66 others, OkayAfrica reported.

For now, the case rests on the court process in South Africa. The nine men are accused of planning to travel to fight, and the charges they face turn on the 1998 law and on what investigators can show about where they were going and who sent them.