Australian man identified as hijacker

Press, 5 December 1981, Page 8

Australian man identified as hijacker

NZPA Canberra An Australian was among the mercenaries . who • hijacked an Air India plane after an unsuccessful coup attempt in the Seychelles last week, according to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. A department spokesman said the latest information from the Seychelles ConsulGeneral in Melbourne was that an Australian Vietnam War veteran, Kenneth Kelly, was one of the 39 mercenaries released by the South African Government after a Court appearance on Wednesday. "The Government has reason to believe Kenneth Kelly was on the hijacked Air India flight which left the Seychelles at the end of the raid,” he said. This meant that no Australians were among the captured mercenaries being held on the Seychelles. The spokesman said the South Africa had been uncooperative and refused to give any information on Australians included in the raid. “We have told the South Africans that we are at a loss to understand their attitude over the whole thing," the spokesman said. Investigations have shown that Kelly served in the ■Australian Army in Vietnam and then served in the former Rhodesian forces.

Foreign Affairs said he was issued with an Austra-

lian passport in Pretoria recently. He’ has been a long-time resident of South Africa. Meanwhile the South African Prime Minister (Mr Pieter Botha) said yesterday that his nation was not involved in the abortive coup nor had it any advance knowledge of it. He told a National Party banquet in Port Elizabeth that legislation would be introduced to prohibit South African trained soldiers from taking part in mercenary acts.

Mr Botha, reacting to criticism of South Africa for releasing the mercenary hijackers, said his Government was fully aware of its international obligations and agreements regarding hijackings. But his Government would not be stampeded into taking any action not warranted by evidence. The Police Minister (Mr Louis le Grange) meanwhile, refused to rule out the possibility that charges might be brought later against the 39 hijackers who were freed without charge. He said it “would be up to the Attor-ney-General” whether to file charges against them. The 39 men had not committed any crimes in South Africa, he said. But a fierce political row has developed in South Africa over the decision to free the mercenaries.

The Opposition Progressive Federal Party leader, Frederik van Zyl Slabbed, said the decision was extraordinary, while his party’s Chief Whip, Brian Bamford, called it scandalous.

The South African Government has denied an allegation by the Seychelles President (Mr Albert Rene) that it was involved in the coup attempt.

Opposition Parliamentarians and English-language newspapers said the handling of the affair could have serious international repercussions for South Africa, particularly because the only charge ignored was the hijacking.

The anti-Government "Rand Daily Mail” said that not enough had been done “to the extent necessary for South Africa to be seen as clean and pure in the situation.”

The court developments lent credence to Mr Rene’s allegation, it said. The Opposition spokesman on police matters, Ray Swart, said: “We need to know how it is possible for this sort of recruitment to take place in South Africa without the authorities having knowledge of it.

“And if they did have knowledge, as has been suggested, we also need to know what action was taken before the operation occurred to try to prevent it.”