Neil Peter Van Heerden

Neil Van Heerden (diplomat)
Born	Neil Peter Van Heerden 30-07-1939 East London, South Africa
Nationality	South African
Member of	Le Cercle
Retired South African diplomat, Le Cercle  South African Ambassador to the European Community In office 31 October 1992 - 1994  South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Director General In office 1987 - 1992

Neil Van Heerden is a retired South African diplomat. US diplomat William Lacy Swing called him a "diplomat's diplomat".

Background

Van Heerden's father was a diplomat.

Activities

Van Heerden was reported to have been "one of the behind-the-scenes architects of peace in Angola." He attended Le Cercle:

Le Cercle had direct links with South African business, diplomatic and military sectors from the 1970s to the 1990s, at the height of the sanctions period. The third and last Le Cercle meeting to be hosted in South Africa took place in March 1991 at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West. Prominent South African businessmen such as Basil Hersov and the Anglo American Minorco chair Julian Ogilvie Thompson attended.

Pan Am Flight 103

Pik Botha's spokesman Gerrit Pretorius explained that Van Heerden was one of 22 South African diplomats booked on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 103, "but we... got to London an hour early and the embassy got us on an earlier flight."

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:South Africa Minister Denies Knowing Of Lockerbie Bomb	Abstract	12 November 1994	David Tucker	Having confirmed that South African foreign minister Pik Botha and his 22-strong party had been booked on Pan Am Flight 103 but switched flights after arriving early in London from Johannesburg, spokesman Roland Darroll said: "The minister is flattered by the allegation of near-omniscience."

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