Looks like the same Zimbabwe situation is developing in Kenya and who knows what country is next if someone doesn't decide to get envolved and stop the killing and stealing from the "haves" by the "have nots".
How swiftly the world forgets.... Turn back the calendar several decades. Someone
please tell us you remember the
Mau Mau, who preyed on all of British East Africa during the 1945-1960 period? The thousands upon thousands of Kikuyu massacred? Come on folks, that nasty business made the news worldwide --- there was even a Puerto Rican street gang in New York City that chose that movement as its namesake during the late 1950's (ref.:
The Cross and the Switchblade, Rev. David Wilkerson, 1959).
(Another reason why I'm firmly
for the unrestricted ownership of firearms by civilians)
Check your history with some of the "old timers" in the region and ask about Major Mike Hoare and the Wild Geese during the Belgian Congo before it changed.
There was also
another "Major Mike" besides Hoare: Major Mike Williams, a former US Army officer who commanded Rhodesia's
Grey's Scouts during the 1970's.
During the previous decade,
Colonel Hoare's unit was know as Five Commando. An English-speaking contingent of the separatist Katangese Army,
5.Codo was manned predominantly by Rhodesians and South Africans, with a handful of soldiers from other nations as well (chiefly British). Americans were conspicuous by their absence, due to an SOP of not accepting US applicants. This had been at the behest of the US Department of State, which had been openly supportive of the opposing UN and Congolese forces under the late Mobuto Sese-Seko. Though I'm an American myself, I can't help but to view my own country's role in that whole affair with extreme disgust; the US definitely backed the wrong side!
There was also a small Katangese Air Force (flying armed Harvards and a handful of other recip machines), commanded by a South African (Jeremy Puren?), and a French-speaking battalion (
4.Codo) under the command of Colonel Robert Denard.
Delving into fiction (same place and time, of course!) for a moment, the character "General Ndofa" in Daniel Carney's excellent novel
The Wild Geese (basis for the 1978 film by the same title) appears to have been based on Mobutu, though I've no idea how accurate the comparison is. I have to say, though, I found the way the Irish missionary and the Regimental Sergeant Major were portrayed in the novel to be much more interesting than the film version. For Mr. Carney's fictional works, I especially enjoyed the 1974 film version of his
other novel,
Whispering Death, starring Christopher Lee and filmed on location in Rhodesia. The low-level RhAF Alou fly-pasts looked
great, BTW! (K-cars rather than G-cars, I presume?)
Which reminds me (off topic now!)... though my R/W flying so far has only amounted to some dual time on Schweizer 300's and (ugh!) Robinson R-22's, the Alouette III has always been on my list of top-10 "must-fly-someday!" fantasy machines. Looks like I'll have to settle for an OH-58 or an MD-530 though!
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Anybody out after 2 AM is either a turd, a cop or a pilot. Or any combination of the three!
[This message has been edited by Constable Clipcock (edited 02 May 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Constable Clipcock (edited 02 May 2000).]