Ivory Coast recruits SA mercenary troops and pilots
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Ivory coast a SA Battlefield
News 24
Pretoria - Renewed fighting in the civil war in the Ivory Coast could develop into a South African "battlefield" with mercenaries from the country fighting on the sides of both the government and the rebels.
A truce which lasted only six weeks was broken last week and unconfirmed reports have it that there have already been South African casualties.
A Russian Mi-24 helicopter, with some South Africans heard in the mean time it had French occupants on board, crashed during clashes with rebel forces. It is not clear whether the chopper was shot down or what happened to the occupants.
Fighting between troops loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo last month admitted that South African, French and Bulgarian soldiers were helping train soldiers.
The South Africans were especially recruited after the government bought the Mi-24 helicopters, but did not have pilots to fly them.
The rebels, who have the backing of Liberia and is being supplied weapons by them, reportedly can only be defeated by means of air attacks.
The Liberians are reportedly providing air support and, with the help of South African mercenaries, providing expertise and training the rebels.
It is not clear how many South Africans are fighting for the rebels.
According to Beeld sources, the rebels only have a core group of well trained soldiers. This includes the South Africans.
The Ivory Coast government recruited its mercenaries in South Africa last month. An initial group of eight was followed by another 40.
Most of them are former members of the Special Forces, 32nd Battalion, the Selous Scouts and ex Zimbabwean soldiers.
The soldiers earn between $6 000 and $10 000 a month and are on a three-month contract. The contract is renewable.
An informed source told Beeld that the mercenaries had been recruited because the war was expected to be a protracted one.
"The ceasefire was just to enable both the government and rebels to shore up supplies and to train their own forces with the assistance of mercenaries."
Pretoria - Renewed fighting in the civil war in the Ivory Coast could develop into a South African "battlefield" with mercenaries from the country fighting on the sides of both the government and the rebels.
A truce which lasted only six weeks was broken last week and unconfirmed reports have it that there have already been South African casualties.
A Russian Mi-24 helicopter, with some South Africans heard in the mean time it had French occupants on board, crashed during clashes with rebel forces. It is not clear whether the chopper was shot down or what happened to the occupants.
Fighting between troops loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo last month admitted that South African, French and Bulgarian soldiers were helping train soldiers.
The South Africans were especially recruited after the government bought the Mi-24 helicopters, but did not have pilots to fly them.
The rebels, who have the backing of Liberia and is being supplied weapons by them, reportedly can only be defeated by means of air attacks.
The Liberians are reportedly providing air support and, with the help of South African mercenaries, providing expertise and training the rebels.
It is not clear how many South Africans are fighting for the rebels.
According to Beeld sources, the rebels only have a core group of well trained soldiers. This includes the South Africans.
The Ivory Coast government recruited its mercenaries in South Africa last month. An initial group of eight was followed by another 40.
Most of them are former members of the Special Forces, 32nd Battalion, the Selous Scouts and ex Zimbabwean soldiers.
The soldiers earn between $6 000 and $10 000 a month and are on a three-month contract. The contract is renewable.
An informed source told Beeld that the mercenaries had been recruited because the war was expected to be a protracted one.
"The ceasefire was just to enable both the government and rebels to shore up supplies and to train their own forces with the assistance of mercenaries."
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Mix Up
Treetop,
I must have been
sorry you gave me en answer !
Do you have more info ? About the 402 as well if you have please. All the best !
I must have been
sorry you gave me en answer !Do you have more info ? About the 402 as well if you have please. All the best !
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'Corpses litter I Coast's streets'
News 24
Duekoue, Ivory Coast - Residents fleeing the western city of Man told of the stench of rotting corpses littering the streets. No one thought this could happen in Ivory Coast, but in Man, the fall from grace of this west African nation can be seen - and smelled.
"We went through living hell," said Carlos Fardom, a Frenchman who fled the city on Wednesday. He said he saw two Mi-24 helicopter gunships, two tanks and heavy machine guns during the loyalist attack to reclaim Man.
Shadowy rebels seized Man and at least two other towns last week. Government forces counter-attacked on Sunday, and now say they control the hill-ringed city in the heart of Ivory Coast's rich, cocoa-producing West.
Ivory Coast has been divided in three after a rebel uprising September 19. The government holds the south, including the key port and economic hub of Abidjan. The insurgents behind the uprising hold the north, and a newly emerged rebel force is battling the army in the west.
"There are bodies everywhere. We never thought this could happen here," Fardom said as he smoked a cigarette outside a hotel in Duekoue, 92 kilometres south of Man.
Residents said Man was quiet on Thursday and loyalist forces controlled the city. But sporadic shooting could be heard from the surrounding forest as army troops hunted down rebels still holding positions on some of the roads into the city.
A two-month rebellion in Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa producer and a former French colony, has degenerated into a multifronted war, and the fiercest battles are being fought in the west.
"My 2-year-old son kept crying and saying: 'I'm afraid, I'm afraid'," said Josef Ane, a Sunday school teacher, who fled Man on Thursday with his three children. "In the centre of town there are a lot of bodies."
Hundreds more people poured out of the city on Thursday, heading south by foot and in vehicles. Government pick-up trucks raced up and down the road.
"They are throwing everything they have at it (the rebellion)," said one military official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The western campaign opened a new front in Ivory Coast's war, which began in September when northern-based rebels attempted a coup against President Laurent Gbagbo.
The new fighting shattered an October 17 ceasefire being monitored by a 1 000-strong French force.
The western rebels have also seized the town of Danane, just 30 kilometres from the border with Liberia, itself battered by a brutal seven-year civil war and an ongoing rebellion.
Residents of Man and Danane have said Liberians were involved with the rebels, although the insurgents deny the claim. Government officials also say Liberian mercenaries are operating in the region.
No official figures were available for casualties in the latest fighting. Residents in Danane said government helicopters opened fire on the town last week.
"Helicopters bombarded the town, but then they went away," said Abraham, a mason who gave only his first name. He said he walked through the bush for three days to escape Danane, arriving on Wednesday in the village of Logouale, north of Duekoue.
The northern-based rebels accused government forces on Wednesday of strafing a crowded market town with helicopter gunships. Antoine Beugre, a rebel spokesperson, said "numerous deaths" had been caused by the attack on Pelezi, about 320 kilometres northwest of Abidjan.
Beugre charged that at the time of the attack, Pelezi was crowded with locals who had come from surrounding villages for market day, and most of the alleged victims were civilians.
Neither Ivory Coast officials nor French military authorities could immediately be reached for comment on the claim. It was the second reported gunship attack in a week on Pelezi.
West African leaders adamantly denied that peace efforts had collapsed. Despite the fighting, talks continued in Lome, capital of nearby Togo.
"The search for peace does not depend upon the speed with which it is obtained, but rather the substance," said President Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali.
Toure spoke in Lome, where he met for two hours on Wednesday with Ivory Coast rebel and government delegates.
The northern- and western-based rebel groups have insisted they are not linked, although the western rebels - seen as less disciplined, and therefore more feared - say they would welcome union with the northern forces.
The rebels in the predominantly Muslim north say they are battling discrimination by the government in the heavily Christian south.
The newly emerged rebel movement in the west, meanwhile, says it is fighting to avenge Ivory Coast's former junta leader, Robert Guei, who was killed in the first hours of the coup attempt. Guei had a large following in Ivory Coast's West. - Sapa-AP
Duekoue, Ivory Coast - Residents fleeing the western city of Man told of the stench of rotting corpses littering the streets. No one thought this could happen in Ivory Coast, but in Man, the fall from grace of this west African nation can be seen - and smelled.
"We went through living hell," said Carlos Fardom, a Frenchman who fled the city on Wednesday. He said he saw two Mi-24 helicopter gunships, two tanks and heavy machine guns during the loyalist attack to reclaim Man.
Shadowy rebels seized Man and at least two other towns last week. Government forces counter-attacked on Sunday, and now say they control the hill-ringed city in the heart of Ivory Coast's rich, cocoa-producing West.
Ivory Coast has been divided in three after a rebel uprising September 19. The government holds the south, including the key port and economic hub of Abidjan. The insurgents behind the uprising hold the north, and a newly emerged rebel force is battling the army in the west.
"There are bodies everywhere. We never thought this could happen here," Fardom said as he smoked a cigarette outside a hotel in Duekoue, 92 kilometres south of Man.
Residents said Man was quiet on Thursday and loyalist forces controlled the city. But sporadic shooting could be heard from the surrounding forest as army troops hunted down rebels still holding positions on some of the roads into the city.
A two-month rebellion in Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa producer and a former French colony, has degenerated into a multifronted war, and the fiercest battles are being fought in the west.
"My 2-year-old son kept crying and saying: 'I'm afraid, I'm afraid'," said Josef Ane, a Sunday school teacher, who fled Man on Thursday with his three children. "In the centre of town there are a lot of bodies."
Hundreds more people poured out of the city on Thursday, heading south by foot and in vehicles. Government pick-up trucks raced up and down the road.
"They are throwing everything they have at it (the rebellion)," said one military official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The western campaign opened a new front in Ivory Coast's war, which began in September when northern-based rebels attempted a coup against President Laurent Gbagbo.
The new fighting shattered an October 17 ceasefire being monitored by a 1 000-strong French force.
The western rebels have also seized the town of Danane, just 30 kilometres from the border with Liberia, itself battered by a brutal seven-year civil war and an ongoing rebellion.
Residents of Man and Danane have said Liberians were involved with the rebels, although the insurgents deny the claim. Government officials also say Liberian mercenaries are operating in the region.
No official figures were available for casualties in the latest fighting. Residents in Danane said government helicopters opened fire on the town last week.
"Helicopters bombarded the town, but then they went away," said Abraham, a mason who gave only his first name. He said he walked through the bush for three days to escape Danane, arriving on Wednesday in the village of Logouale, north of Duekoue.
The northern-based rebels accused government forces on Wednesday of strafing a crowded market town with helicopter gunships. Antoine Beugre, a rebel spokesperson, said "numerous deaths" had been caused by the attack on Pelezi, about 320 kilometres northwest of Abidjan.
Beugre charged that at the time of the attack, Pelezi was crowded with locals who had come from surrounding villages for market day, and most of the alleged victims were civilians.
Neither Ivory Coast officials nor French military authorities could immediately be reached for comment on the claim. It was the second reported gunship attack in a week on Pelezi.
West African leaders adamantly denied that peace efforts had collapsed. Despite the fighting, talks continued in Lome, capital of nearby Togo.
"The search for peace does not depend upon the speed with which it is obtained, but rather the substance," said President Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali.
Toure spoke in Lome, where he met for two hours on Wednesday with Ivory Coast rebel and government delegates.
The northern- and western-based rebel groups have insisted they are not linked, although the western rebels - seen as less disciplined, and therefore more feared - say they would welcome union with the northern forces.
The rebels in the predominantly Muslim north say they are battling discrimination by the government in the heavily Christian south.
The newly emerged rebel movement in the west, meanwhile, says it is fighting to avenge Ivory Coast's former junta leader, Robert Guei, who was killed in the first hours of the coup attempt. Guei had a large following in Ivory Coast's West. - Sapa-AP
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SA Probes into SA Mercenaries
Copyright 2002 The Financial Times Limited
Financial Times (London)
December 5, 2002, Thursday London Edition 1
Pg. 9
South Africa probe into Ivory Coast mercenaries
By JAMES LAMONT and MICHAEL PEEL
JOHANNESBURG and LAGOS
South Africa has launched an investigation into reports that its nationals
may be fighting as mercenaries on both sides of the deepening conflict in
Ivory Coast.
The investigation reflects wider fears that South African "military
advisers" controlled by offshore companies might assist rebel groups and
prolong civil wars.
"If any South Africans are found to be involved there without authority,
they would be doing so in contravention of the law. South Africa can never
support the action of mercenaries anywhere," the foreign ministry said.
But the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, has criticised the
government for not acting more aggressively to prevent mercenary
activities. It said failure to enforce laws prohibiting interference in
foreign wars would undermine South Africa's commitment to regional peace.
Many mercenaries are well-trained former soldiers who saw active service in
elite combat units under South Africa's apartheid regime or Rhodesia's
former minority white government. In the 1990s South African mercenary
soldiers played a strong part in helping the Angolan army re-organise in
the face of advances by rebel Unita guerrilla forces. They have also been
involved in operations in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Madagascar.
But analysts say South African mercenary activity is waning as its stock
ages. "Mercenary activity usually increases after a war. Mercenaries age
and then go on to other occupations. Our export product is beyond its shelf
life date," says Jakkie Cilliers, director of the Pretoria-based Institute
for Security Studies (ISS).
The ISS says Ivory Coast's government has relied on South African expertise
to mount an air offensive against rebel forces. But South African military
advisers are also suspected of offering training and logistical services to
Liberian-backed rebels.
Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast's president, said last month that South
African, French and Bulgarian military advisers were training government
soldiers and taking care of "security issues".
The issue of mercenaries in west Africa caused controversy in the UK in
1998 after revelations that a private military company run by a former
British army officer had exported arms to Sierra Leone despite an embargo.
Financial Times (London)
December 5, 2002, Thursday London Edition 1
Pg. 9
South Africa probe into Ivory Coast mercenaries
By JAMES LAMONT and MICHAEL PEEL
JOHANNESBURG and LAGOS
South Africa has launched an investigation into reports that its nationals
may be fighting as mercenaries on both sides of the deepening conflict in
Ivory Coast.
The investigation reflects wider fears that South African "military
advisers" controlled by offshore companies might assist rebel groups and
prolong civil wars.
"If any South Africans are found to be involved there without authority,
they would be doing so in contravention of the law. South Africa can never
support the action of mercenaries anywhere," the foreign ministry said.
But the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, has criticised the
government for not acting more aggressively to prevent mercenary
activities. It said failure to enforce laws prohibiting interference in
foreign wars would undermine South Africa's commitment to regional peace.
Many mercenaries are well-trained former soldiers who saw active service in
elite combat units under South Africa's apartheid regime or Rhodesia's
former minority white government. In the 1990s South African mercenary
soldiers played a strong part in helping the Angolan army re-organise in
the face of advances by rebel Unita guerrilla forces. They have also been
involved in operations in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Madagascar.
But analysts say South African mercenary activity is waning as its stock
ages. "Mercenary activity usually increases after a war. Mercenaries age
and then go on to other occupations. Our export product is beyond its shelf
life date," says Jakkie Cilliers, director of the Pretoria-based Institute
for Security Studies (ISS).
The ISS says Ivory Coast's government has relied on South African expertise
to mount an air offensive against rebel forces. But South African military
advisers are also suspected of offering training and logistical services to
Liberian-backed rebels.
Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast's president, said last month that South
African, French and Bulgarian military advisers were training government
soldiers and taking care of "security issues".
The issue of mercenaries in west Africa caused controversy in the UK in
1998 after revelations that a private military company run by a former
British army officer had exported arms to Sierra Leone despite an embargo.
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Fleeing villagers claim Liberians helped rebels in Ivory Coast attack
Cape Times
January 3, 2003
San Pedro, Ivory Coast: Civilians fleeing southwestern Ivory Coast say they saw many corpses after rebels attacked the village of Neka, opening a new front in the civil war.
Helicopter gunships - piloted by mercenaries - and loyalist troops headed yesterday for Neka, bringing the fighting to about 200km from this port, from which the world's top producer ships half its cocoa beans.
President Laurent Gbagbo's government accused rebel-backed Liberian mercenaries of hacking civilians to death and burning homes in Neka.
Villagers who escaped said there were many Liberians among the fighters involved in the attack, claimed by the Ivorian Patriotic Movement of the Far West.
"They killed lots of people," said one woman.
The main rebel group, the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, condemned the attack on Neka and urged French troops to respond. It said the rebels had not abandoned the ceasefire, but were running out of patience.
Meanwhile, the government faced a demand from France, which has troops monitoring the ceasefire, to explain why a helicopter gunship crossed a ceasefire line in the north on Tuesday and killed 12 civilians. - Reuters
iafrica
Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo on Friday pledged to observe a "total ceasefire" after France's foreign minister asked him to throw out mercenaries and stop aerial bombings to help end a 15-week conflict that has torn the west African nation apart.
Gbagbo said mercenaries fighting with government troops would leave the country on Saturday.
"We are ready to abstain from all acts of war on all fronts, centre, north and west," Gbagbo told journalists.
De Villepin said former colonial ruler France would host a meeting of all Ivorian political parties on January 15 in Paris to end the conflict that has split the world's top cocoa producer in half and created fresh turmoil in west Africa.
De Villepin said all the political players he met were ready to attend the meeting, which will last a week and be followed by a summit of the heads of state affected by the crisis.
De Villepin's second visit to Ivory Coast in a little more than a month came a day after France strongly denounced an aerial attack by troops loyal to Gbagbo on the fishing village of Menakro in which 12 civilians were killed.
The village was deep inside a ceasefire line being monitored by some 2 500 French peacekeepers.
The minister said "President Gbagbo had pledged" to send away hired fighters and ground government helicopter gunships.
The visit started on a sour note with some 100 protestors — mainly women and youths — blockading De Villepin and his entourage in Gbagbo's official residence as they screamed insults, spat and threatened to "kill all of you."
But Gbagbo himself intervened eventually, persuading the protesters to lift their blockade and allow de Villepin to leave the residence.
A rumour that de Villepin had come to demand Gbagbo's resignation had apparently sparked the protest.
De Villepin appeared angry, according to journalists at the site, and later said the protest was "not spontaneous" and appeared to have been clearly planned in advance.
Ivory Coast Prime Minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan met de Villepin later and apologised, expressing deep regret "for what has happened”.
"It was not a manifestation of hostility but more a cry from the heart of the Ivorian population," he said but denied it had been stage-managed by the government.
De Villepin is scheduled to go to the inland capital of Yamoussoukro on Sunday, where French troops have been positioned since shortly after the start of the September 19 rebellion.
After that, the French minister will go on to the rebel headquarters city of Bouake, about 100 kilometres north of Yamoussoukro.
January 3, 2003
San Pedro, Ivory Coast: Civilians fleeing southwestern Ivory Coast say they saw many corpses after rebels attacked the village of Neka, opening a new front in the civil war.
Helicopter gunships - piloted by mercenaries - and loyalist troops headed yesterday for Neka, bringing the fighting to about 200km from this port, from which the world's top producer ships half its cocoa beans.
President Laurent Gbagbo's government accused rebel-backed Liberian mercenaries of hacking civilians to death and burning homes in Neka.
Villagers who escaped said there were many Liberians among the fighters involved in the attack, claimed by the Ivorian Patriotic Movement of the Far West.
"They killed lots of people," said one woman.
The main rebel group, the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, condemned the attack on Neka and urged French troops to respond. It said the rebels had not abandoned the ceasefire, but were running out of patience.
Meanwhile, the government faced a demand from France, which has troops monitoring the ceasefire, to explain why a helicopter gunship crossed a ceasefire line in the north on Tuesday and killed 12 civilians. - Reuters
iafrica
Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo on Friday pledged to observe a "total ceasefire" after France's foreign minister asked him to throw out mercenaries and stop aerial bombings to help end a 15-week conflict that has torn the west African nation apart.
Gbagbo said mercenaries fighting with government troops would leave the country on Saturday.
"We are ready to abstain from all acts of war on all fronts, centre, north and west," Gbagbo told journalists.
De Villepin said former colonial ruler France would host a meeting of all Ivorian political parties on January 15 in Paris to end the conflict that has split the world's top cocoa producer in half and created fresh turmoil in west Africa.
De Villepin said all the political players he met were ready to attend the meeting, which will last a week and be followed by a summit of the heads of state affected by the crisis.
De Villepin's second visit to Ivory Coast in a little more than a month came a day after France strongly denounced an aerial attack by troops loyal to Gbagbo on the fishing village of Menakro in which 12 civilians were killed.
The village was deep inside a ceasefire line being monitored by some 2 500 French peacekeepers.
The minister said "President Gbagbo had pledged" to send away hired fighters and ground government helicopter gunships.
The visit started on a sour note with some 100 protestors — mainly women and youths — blockading De Villepin and his entourage in Gbagbo's official residence as they screamed insults, spat and threatened to "kill all of you."
But Gbagbo himself intervened eventually, persuading the protesters to lift their blockade and allow de Villepin to leave the residence.
A rumour that de Villepin had come to demand Gbagbo's resignation had apparently sparked the protest.
De Villepin appeared angry, according to journalists at the site, and later said the protest was "not spontaneous" and appeared to have been clearly planned in advance.
Ivory Coast Prime Minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan met de Villepin later and apologised, expressing deep regret "for what has happened”.
"It was not a manifestation of hostility but more a cry from the heart of the Ivorian population," he said but denied it had been stage-managed by the government.
De Villepin is scheduled to go to the inland capital of Yamoussoukro on Sunday, where French troops have been positioned since shortly after the start of the September 19 rebellion.
After that, the French minister will go on to the rebel headquarters city of Bouake, about 100 kilometres north of Yamoussoukro.
