SA 'probing Guinea mercenaries'

South Africa's government says it is investigating reports that South African mercenaries are training supporters of Guinea's military junta.

The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says the announcement appears to give substance to the allegations.

There have been reports in the French media of South Africans training recruits at a camp south of Conakry.

The junta has been fiercely criticised for a deadly crackdown on opposition supporters in September.

Human rights groups say more than 150 people were killed when troops fired on an anti-government protest and many women systematically raped.

Guinean officials say 57 people died and that most were trampled to death.

The protest was called in protest at rumours that Capt Moussa Dadis Camara, who seized power last December, planned to run for president next year despite a promise not to.

Cautious

Ayanda Ntsaluba, South Africa's director general of International Relations, said the mercenary allegations were being taken seriously because of the elections due in Guinea next year."The allegation is that there is a group of South Africans, mercenaries who are training militia largely recruited on an ethnic basis, supporters of the current military youth," he said.

"The information that we have... leads us to is basically companies that have operated largely through Dubai."

It also seemed to point to a "strong South African connection", he said, but officials were being cautious about the leads.

South Africa has strict laws forbidding mercenary activities.

Last month, the UN created a tribunal to investigate the killings in Guinea's capital Conakry on 28 September.

The US and the African Union have imposed sanctions against Capt Camara and 41 members of his junta.

Former colonial power France and West African countries have imposed an arms embargo, while the EU has called for Capt Camara to be put on trial for crimes against humanity.