SA spy returns home

Aubrey Welken (aka Andrew Brown), the South African secret service's covert agent imprisoned for a year in Zimbabwe, arrived at Johannesburg International Airport on Tuesday.

Addressing a brief press conference with Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Welken said it had been his own decision to cross from Zambia into Zimbabwe, where he was arrested on December 10, 2004.

Kasrils told the press conference Welken would be returning to Zimbabwe of his own accord to participate in a trial related to his arrest. The trial was that of one of his sources.

Speaking to the media, the middle-aged Welken, with shoulder-length grey hair, said: "It was a tough time but I am okay."

Referring to his going into Zimbabwe, which he had reportedly been lured into doing, Welken said: "I did it because of operational needs and because of my own decision as an operator, in order to make sure that I did what I had to do."

Asked how he had been treated in custody in Zimbabwe, he replied: "Any interrogation needs to follow a certain process, but as you can see, I am well... I have all my limbs."

Welken allegedly paid his Zimbabwean contacts to report on tensions within President Robert Mugabe's government.

He was reportedly attempting to recruit the head of Zimbabwe counter intelligence.

In a trial that had taken place in camera in Zimbabwe, prominent Zimbabweans have since been jailed for espionage.

Kasrils said the affair had been a test of maturity of relations between the two governments.

"The fact is that a rapport does exist between the governments... that one is able to strike a chord on the basis of the liberation experience is a very strong factor.

"It doesn't mean wiping out criticism of one another, but we are able to relate."

Welken, whose codename was Andrew Brown, had already been identified by his real name in press reports since his arrest.

Earlier on Tuesday, Zimbabwe's media had exposed him during the handover, prompting the South African Intelligence Ministry to present him to the media rather than hold an off-the-record press conference as had been planned.

"It's an unusual break from intelligence tradition," said ministerial spokesperson Lorna Daniels. - Sapa