DHAKA: Israeli Mossad agents operating in Ethiopia in 1962 unwittingly trained Nelson Mandela in hand-to-hand combat, weaponry and sabotage, according to a document released by Israel’s state archives.

A letter from a Mossad official to the foreign ministry, dated October 11, 1962 titled ‘THE BLACK PIMPERNEL’ and released to the public on Sunday, recalls a conversation in which ‘we discussed a trainee in Ethiopia named David Mobasari, from Rhodesia’.

‘The aforementioned was trained by the Ethiopians in Judo, sabotage and weapons,’ the letter read, reports The Straits Times.

‘The Black Pimpernel’ was the nickname given at the time to Mandela, the revered anti-apartheid hero and former ANC leader who died this month, while he was on the run from white South Africa during the liberation struggle.

BDST: 2015 HRS, DEC 23, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor