Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Zambian authorities briefly detained a passenger plane carrying 60 South Africans, 33 of them dressed in military uniform, when it landed at Lusaka International Airport for refueling, a Zambian air force official said Wednesday.

"The DC-9 plane belonged to Interlink and it made a stop-over in Zambia for a refuel on Tuesday," Mukumano told the state-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.

"The plane was detained because the crew did not inform Zambian authorities that it was carrying military personnel when it landed in Zambia," Mukumano said.

He told the broadcaster that Zambian officials had lodged a complaint through Foreign Minister Kalombo Mwansa.

Senior South African military commanders including several generals were among the 33 in uniform, who were on a goodwill visit to South African soldiers in the Great Lakes region, a South African Defence Force (SANDF) spokesman told AFP in Johannesburg.

"Because it was a chartered flight and its manifest stated 'business trip', there was a small misunderstanding in Lusaka, when officials saw the South Africans in uniform," Colonel John Rolt said.

"The plane was briefly detained before it continuing on a journey to see our soldiers doing duty in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," Rolt added.

South Africa, as part of ongoing United Nations peacekeeping missions, has troops based in both the two Great Lakes countries.

Last March in neighbouring Zimbabwe some 70 alleged mercenaries were arrested after their plane landed at Harare airport and put on trial in September accused of preparing to mount a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.

The men were from several southern African countries but were all travelling on South African passports.

The South African National Defence Force [SANDF] says it is unlikely that one of its chartered flights was held back in Zambia yesterday over fears of mercenary activity.

An aircraft full of South African soldiers, among them high-ranking officials, was delayed for over two hours at a Lusaka air base. It is believed airport officials became suspicious when they discovered uniformed officers on the plane, even though the trip was classified as a business visit. The SANDF's (John Rolf) says it appears Zambian authorities were sceptical about why the soldiers were in the country.

[Rolf - recording] The Zambian authorities thought it was a business trip, and when the aircraft stopped to refuel, the door was open, and they saw uniformed personnel. This obviously caused some sort of concern. It was merely a confusion, and obviously a concern, with, you know, unexpectedly seeing uniformed personnel on board an aircraft. [End of recording]

(Rolf) says the plane was en route to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, to deliver good will Christmas gifts to SANDF soldiers stationed there.