| For those not familiar with Collusion and State sponsored murders in the North of Ireland, Project Echoes was a secret joint operation involving Apartheid South Africa's notorious Vlakplaas unit, Civil Co-operation Bureau (C.C.B), the RUC Special Branch, Armscor, Loyalist paramilitaries and members of the British security services. Some of the key players will be fairly well known, for example Brian Nelson, the British military intelligence's Force Research Unit's agent and a UDA intelligence officer. Others, like ex-pat Loyalist Charlie Simpson, Leon Flores, Eugene De Kock and Pamela Du Randt will not be household names but they were key players in a murky world of torture, murder and intrigue. Former Tory MP, for Basingstoke, turned Paisleyite, Andrew Hunter, who has long been in the pay of British intelligence also figures in this story. An important part of the Project Echoes story, are the joint operations that resulted in the murders, or attempted murders of opponents of the Apartheid regime. Arguably at the top of their hitlist was Dick Coetzee, a former hitman for the Vlakplass unit, who 'defected' to the ANC in the late 1980s. Although, Coetzee's defection was more for self-preservation reasons, than any ideological conversion to anti-racism, it has to be stressed. Dirk Coetzee survived several assassination attempts, including one very near miss in London by a joint RUC/Loyalist paramilitary hit squad. Many others were not so lucky, including the ANC's representative in France, Dulcie September, who was murdered by a similar squad in March 1988. A South African born academic, Adrian Guelke, who was a lecturer at Queens University, Belfast, was shot by a pro-British loyalist hitsquad, in Septeber 1991. The unsuccessful murder bid occurred at his Fitzwilliam Street home, just off the Lisburn Road, in South Belfast. This attempted murder was a payment in kind to the Apartheid intelligence services by Loyalist paramilitaries. Another Irish academic, this time at the University of Ulster, was also targetted several times by Loyalist paramilitaries, at the behest of the Apartheid state. The unfortunate lecturer had stories 'planted' in the media, in an attempt to sabotage his career. Their intention was to further raise his profile as a prospective target, for other pro-British death squads. Paul Larkin in his excellent expose on British Collusion and State sponsored murder in Ireland, has an excellent chapter on this subject in his book: A Very British Jihad. The Pat Finucane Centre and the Troops Out Movement, also have some excellent material on Project Echoes. A name which constantly crops in all areas of this phase of the British Collusion 'project' with Loyalist paramilitary terrorists, is Irish born ex-pat, Charlie Simpson! Simpson, was a Loyalist paramilitary and British intelligence asset, who served with units of the then Rhodesian Special Forces and later in Apartheid South Africa's dirty world of state sponsored murder. In many respects, Simpson seems to have been the 'link man' during key stages of Project Echoes. At some stage, there will be a more in depth, comprehensive insight published into the foul and murky world of British state collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries, in the murder of Irish citizens. These sectarian murders often occurred at the behest of reactionary, true Rogue States, such as Apartheid South Africa and Israel! Paul Larkin in A Very British Jihad mentions assassination attempts on Apartheid South African dissidents and even London Mayoral candidate, Ken Livingstone, by joint RUC/UVF deathsquads exported to London! These contract murder attempts, at the behest of Apartheid South Africa, involved the late Loyalist Godfather and British security service asset,Billy King Rat Wright and Mid-Ulster RUC Special Branch members. The attempted hit on Ken Livingstone, was planned to take place as he made his way to work on the tube, to the then Greater London Council's Headquarters. (To be continued) © Iskra 21/03/2010 |