Mercenary

A mercenary is a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological, national or political considerations. However, when the term is used to refer to a soldier in a regular national army, it is usually considered an insult, epithet or pejorative.

Mercenaries in Africa

20th century

In the 20th century, mercenaries have been mostly involved in conflicts on the continent of Africa. There have been a number of unsavory incidents in the brushfire wars of Africa, some involving recruitment of naïve European and American men "looking for adventure" and thrusting them into combat situations where they would not survive to get paid.

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Many of the adventurers in Africa who have been described as mercenaries were in fact ideologically motivated to support particular governments, and would not fight "for the highest bidder."

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Particularly notorious mercenaries include:

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• Mike Hoare was involved in the Congo Crisis in the early 1960s and a Seychelles failed coup in 1978.
• Bob Denard was involved in numerous African campaigns in many countries often with the covert support of France. However his particular speciality was intervening in the Comoros. The last time was in 1995, when he staged a coup which failed (the military of the French Government intervened to oust Denard).
• Simon Mann was involved with Executive Outcomes ventures in Angola and Sierra Leone (see below). In 2004 he was found guilty in Zimbabwe of "attempting to buy weapons" (BBC 27 August) allegedly for a coup in Equatorial Guinean (see below).

Mercenaries fought for the Biafrans in the 4th Commando Brigade during the Nigerian Civil War, (1967–1970). Other mercenaries flew aircraft for the Biafrans. In October 1966, for example, a Royal Air Burundi DC-4M Argonaut, flown by a mercenary Heinrich Wartski also known as Henry Wharton, crashlanded in Cameroon with military supplies destined for Biafra.

Related Topics:
Nigerian Civil War - Cameroon

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In the mid-1970s John Banks, a Briton, recruited mercenaries to fight for the National Front for the Liberation of Angola FNLA against the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the civil war that broke out when Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975. When captured, John Derek Barker's role as a leader of mercenaries in Northern Angola led the judges to send him to face the firing squad. Nine others were imprisoned. Three more were executed: American Daniel Gearhart was sentenced to death for advertising himself as a mercenary in an American newspaper; Andrew McKenzie and Costas Georgiou (the self styled "Colonel Callan"), who had both served in the British army, were sentenced to death for murder.

Related Topics:
1970s - FNLA - MPLA - Costas Georgiou

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American Bob MacKenzie was killed in the Malal Hills in February 1995 while commanding Gurkha Security Guards (GSG) in Sierra Leone. GSG pulled out soon afterwards and was replaced by Executive Outcomes. Both were employed by the Sierra Leone government as military advisers and to train the government soldiers. It has been alleged that the firms provided soldiers who took an active part in the fighting against the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

Related Topics:
Malal Hills - 1995 - Sierra Leone - Executive Outcomes - Revolutionary United Front

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A fictional portrait of mercenary operations in the 1970s is Frederick Forsyth's book, The Dogs of War, which was set on the island of Malabo - renamed "Zangaro" in the novel - and given a platinum deposit. Since the discovery of oil there in the mid-1990s, it does not need a fictional platinum deposit for it to be of interest to financiers and mercenaries. In August 2004 there was the a plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea in Malabo. Currently eight South African apartheid-era soldiers (the leader of whom is Nick du Toit), six Armenian aircrew and five local men are in Black Beach prison on the island. They are accused of being an advanced guard for a coup to place Severo Moto in power. CNN reported on August 25, that:

Related Topics:
Frederick Forsyth - The Dogs of War - Equatorial Guinea - Malabo - Apartheid - Nick du Toit - Severo Moto - August 25

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:Defendant Nick du Toit said he was introduced to Thatcher in South Africa last year by Simon Mann, the leader of 70 men arrested in Zimbabwe in March suspected of being a group of mercenaries heading to Equatorial Guinea.

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It was planned, it is alleged, by Simon Mann (a founder of Executive Outcomes) a former SAS officer. On 27 August 2004 he was found guilty in Zimbabwe of purchasing arms, allegedly for use in the plot. (He admitted trying to procure dangerous weapons, but said that they were to guard a diamond mine in DR Congo.) It is alleged that there is a paper trail from him which implicates Sir Mark Thatcher, Lord Archer and Ely Calil (a Lebanese-born oil trader).

Related Topics:
27 August - 2004

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The BBC reported in an article entitled "Q&A: Equatorial Guinea coup plot":

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:The BBC's Newsnight television programme saw the financial records of Simon Mann's companies showing large payments to Nick du Toit and also some $2m coming in - though the source of this funding they say is largely untraceable.

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The BBC reported on 10 September 2004 that in Zimbabwe:

Related Topics:
10 September - 2004

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:, the British leader of a group of 67 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea has been sentenced to seven years in jail... The other passengers got 12 months in jail for breaking immigration laws while the two pilots got 16 months...The court also ordered the seizure of Mann's $3m Boeing 727 and $180,000 found on board.

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With the current crises in Zimbabwe, a Boeing 727 will be a useful addition to the state's national airline and the $180,000 should be more than enough to cover the expense of keeping the men in prison.

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Ancient Egypt

The first recorded use of mercenaries dates back to Ancient Egypt, 1500 BC, when Pharaoh Razmez II used 10,000 mercenaries during his battles.

Related Topics:
Ancient Egypt - 1500 BC - Pharaoh - Razmez II

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