Callan accused of African massacre

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34120, 5 April 1976, Page 17

Callan accused of African massacre

CV.Z. Press Assn — Copyright) LONDON, April 4. The mercenary leader, Costas Georgiou, known as Colonel Callan, and accused of ordering the execution of 14 British mercenaries in Angola, was also responsible for the massacre of 160 African villagers, a fellow mercenary in London has alleged.

Peter McAleese, who returned to Britain from Africa last week, said Georgiou and a group of mercenaries marched into a village near Maquela, in northern Angola. They ordered all the men to line up, and shot them.

British news reports last week auoted the Angolan Justice Minister (Mr Diogenes Boavida) as saying that 12 captured foreign mercenaries were to face trial in Angola for war crimes. The reports said that one of the 12, named as Cortes Georgin, was believed to be Georgiou.

Georgiou, a Greek-Cypriot, ■who took British nationality when he came to Britain at the age of five, was a mercenary fleld-sommander fighting for the F.N.L.A. national liberation front in the Angolan civil war. The F.N.L.A. was one of the two factions opposed to Angola’s present Popular Movement (M.P.L.A.) rulers.

McAleese said he took over from Georgiou as the mercentary leader. He added: “I don’t fancy his chances if they (the Angolan authorities) know about the massacre (of the 160 Africans). He showed no mercy, so he can expect none. He deserves all he gets. He did more harm to our side than the enemy.”

McAleese, a former sergeant in the British Army, spent five hours with Scotland Yard detectives answering questions when he returned to Britain. He said: “I told them everything I know about the shooting of the 14 mercenaries. I took photographs of the scene to give to the authorities, because I knew there would be trouble over it.”