Ivory Coast recruits SA mercenary troops and pilots

[Gunship]

News 24 (http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/West_Africa/0,1113,2-11-998_1275189,00.html)

South African mercenaries might soon join Angolan soldiers in helping Ivory Coast government troops subdue rebel forces in this west African country.

Reliable intelligence sources say a recruitment attempt in South Africa is already well under way in signing up between 30 and 40 well-trained mercenaries for "VIP protection" in the Ivory Coast.

The soldiers must apparently have a thorough knowledge of water operations and evacuations, as well as helicopter training.

In exchange, they will earn good money.

The first of these soldiers will allegedly leave for Ivory Coast this week.

The contract is allegedly being endorsed by the Ivory Coast government and supported by French financing.

French soldiers are already in the country to help stabilise the situation.

The South African soldiers must apparently also have a thorough knowledge of Ivory Coast and neigbouring countries, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Scores of South Africans were involved in these countries during the past couple of years. The United Nations (UN) confirmed in a report two years ago that South Africans were training Liberian and Sierra Leonean troops. Karl Alberts was identified at the time as a helicopter pilot flying for the Liberian army.

About 200 Angolese troops arrived in Ivory Coast last week to assist President Laurent Gbabgo.

Henri Boshoff, military analyst at the Institute of Security Studies, says he knows about "local plans for operations in Ivory Coast".

"South Africa has promised to assist Ivory Coast, but the government's ability to get involved is severely limited.

"At the same time, Gbagbo, when confronted about the Angolans in his country, defended their presence by saying it was completely within his rights to hire foreign soldiers as he saw fit and when necessary.

"South African mercenaries are involved in many African conflicts. It will therefore not be unusual to soon come across a swift reaction unit in the Ivory Coast," Boshoff said.

The Act on Foreign Military Aid stipulates that South Africans taking part in other countries' conflicts may be prosecuted.

Since this law came into effect about three years ago, mercenaries have continued with their activities in foreign countries as "security guards". No-one has yet been charged in terms of the act.

Foreign affairs spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota said on Tuesday afternoon that the department was investigating the matter. :rolleyes:

More details will be made available in due course.

[Gunship]

News 24 (http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/0,1113,2-11_1278356,00.html)

Abidjan - South African mercenaries have landed in Ivory Coast to help the government fight rebels who hold half the territory of the world's largest cocoa producer, foreign military sources said on Wednesday.

Among the dozens of mercenaries arriving in the West African country were veterans of the disbanded Executive Outcomes, a South African group whose paid soldiers scored victories against rebel forces in Angola and Sierra Leone in the mid-1990s.

Reports that the mercenaries had arrived in Abidjan came as rebels met a government team in Togo for peace talks to end the conflict, which stems from a failed September 19 coup and left hundreds dead before a truce 12 days ago.

"The first group of 40 mercenaries came to ensure the president's security," one foreign military source told Reuters. "Another group of about 160 are expected and that looks like it could be for bigger operations."

Another source said the plan was put together by a French "godfather", but relied mostly on South African manpower and was backed by Russian-built helicopters including Mi-8s for transport and at least one Mi-24 "Hind" gunship.

At South Africa's Institute for Security Studies, analyst John Tuma said he knew 200 mercenaries had been recruited in the country for the mission to Ivory Coast.

President Laurent Gbagbo's adviser in Paris, Toussaint Alain, said he could neither confirm nor deny the arrival of mercenaries in Ivory Coast.

"We are a legitimate government and we have the right to buy arms where we like and enlist the help of who we like," he said.

Dogs of war on both sides

African mercenaries from a dozen years of savage civil wars in nearby Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as from neighbouring Burkina Faso, are beefing up the rebel Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, regional security sources say.

Mercenaries have plunged into African conflicts since the independence era of the 1960s, when notorious dogs of war like Bob Denard and "Mad" Mike Hoare fought in the anarchic Congo.

Pilots, many from the former Soviet Union, fly transport and combat missions in conflicts across the continent.

But the most successful operations of recent years were mounted by Executive Outcomes, relying on both black and white soldiers who had fought for South Africa's apartheid regime.

What began as a training mission for the Angolan government in the early 1990s evolved into offensives backed by helicopters and jets, which forced Unita rebels into a position from which they never really regained their strength.

In Sierra Leone, Executive Outcomes came in to help the government after rebels struck towards the capital in 1995. Within a few months, search and destroy missions had forced the brutal Revolutionary United Front to sue for peace.

But foreign donors were unhappy about payments linked to diamond-mining deals and pushed the government to end the contract. Sierra Leone then collapsed back into fighting.

Executive Outcomes was disbanded in 1999 as the South African government moved to outlaw citizens who fought in foreign wars, but the line is blurred as to exactly when providers of security services become mercenaries.

[exjet]

Guns,

How about you? Could be a reunion!

All the best

ExJ

[Gunship]

Lo Exjet ... long time bru ...

Man, got the old invite but I am finished with this sh*t man ... have a look at my comments re life policies ... and after what happened last year on 19 Oct ... I will stay kewlll man ... here is the latest ! Our friends are doing well - spoke to one yesterday. Cheers bru.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

ABIDJAN

A Russian made MI 24 Hind attack helicopter flew over Abidjan's military
airport yesterday, witness said.
Ivory Coast's army did not have the attack helicopter before the rebel
uprising broke out on September 19, and French forces deployed to monitor a
cease-fire between the army and rebels are not equipped with an MI 24.
The MI 24 Hind was designed to bea gunship and can be fitted with artillery,
cannons, rocket launchers and other weapons. It can carry eight passengers
in addition to two pilots. The helicopter was the signature weapon in the
Soviet war in Afghanistan. The aircraft appeared to be making test flights,
after being transported to Abidjan.

SAPA-AFP

[B Sousa]

Hey Buddy, Ivory Coast...I Don Theeenk so...Im back in da Caribbean (www.aircenterhelicopters.com) and I got a bottle of good Rum with your name on it.........29 flying hours down here from Tucson.......
If your gonna stay there, make sure you got plenty of WD-40 to keep those guns in order.............
Bert

[Gunship]

Lo down there Bert m8,

Our friend (the one that you met at the airshow) is there but the $ should be much more for me to have fun at this age ... :eek: I mean REAL FUN.

Keep that rum well oiled m8 and I will come and visit. Oh and the Tassies is really not soooo bad :D

[Gunship]

Link (http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/0,1113,2-11_1278771,00.html)

Pretoria - Officials in Ivory Coast have been told to investigate reports that South African mercenaries have been hired by Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

"We have seen reports of this alleged activity by South Africans and have instructed our officials in the Ivory Coast to look into the matter," spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota told journalists.

"Certainly the South African government has not sanctioned any such activity," she added.

ISS

The Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies said on Tuesday several dozen South African mercenaries had been hired by Gbagbo to help him put down a rebellion that broke out last month.

"Forty of them arrived in Abidjan last Thursday and about 160 are meant to follow," ISS analyst John Tuma said.

"On the face of it they are there to protect the president, but the sheer number suggests that there may be more to it than that."

Kota said the government "had very little information to hand" about the alleged presence of South African fighters in the west African state.

"We are relying on our people there and our people on the (foreign) desk here to inform us," she said.

SA source of soldiers of fortune

During the apartheid era, South Africa was a well-known source of soldiers of fortune, most of them former members of the apartheid military.

They were involved in conflicts including those in Angola and Sierre Leone and were taken on by governments, rebel movements and private companies with financial interests like oil and diamonds, to protect them in the strife-torn countries.

But in 1998 the government approved a law banning all mercenary activity and it forced the country's most famous outfit of "security and military advisors", Executive Outcomes, to shut its doors.

Executive Outcomes

On Thursday the company's former sole shareholder, Nico Palm, denied rumours that it had dispatched men to help Gbagbo.

Palm said Executive Outcomes ceased operations on December 31, 1998, and has not reopened, although a copycat company might be operating under the same name out of Angola.

"Neither the ex-chairman nor myself have activated the company or given permission for Executive Outcomes to be used as a vehicle for any activities," he said in a statement to the local SAPA news agency.

"The name of Executive Outcomes is therefore being used in a totally fraudulent manner," he said. - Sapa-AFP

[Gunship]

The Same Story Bru (http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/West_Africa/0,1113,2-11-998_1278854,00.html)

SA not in Ivory Coast army ... :eek:

Paris - The office of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo denied on Thursday that South African mercenaries were fighting alongside his country's army to put down a six-week-old bloody rebellion.

"No credit should be given to rumours about any supposed presence of South African mercenaries in Ivory Coast," Gbagbo's communications adviser, Toussaint Alain, said in a statement.

"These fantasy allegations, put about by a western military source and the armed rebels, essentially aims to torpedo the Lome negotiations and to place responsibility, in advance, for any failure of the peace talks on President Gbagbo," the statement said.

Ivory Coast rebel leaders on Thursday began discussing their main demands with government negotiators at a meeting in the Togolese capital Lome in a bid to restore a fragile peace process.

Alain was responding to an allegation made on Tuesday by the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies that around 40 mercenaries, many of them South African, had been hired by Gbagbo to help him quash the rebellion and that another 160 were on their way. - Sapa-AFP

[steamchicken]

Still negotiating.. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2385271.stm) Some other news sources say the Ivorian army claims to have reoccupied all the rebel territories....so those non-existent men and their ghostly helicopter must have done a good job. Avancez les mercenaires..

[Treetopflyer]

"The Ivorian army claims it has reoccupied the whole of Ivory Coast"... Oh well... What kind of newspaper may have printed such a thing? A local (loyalist) one, I assume. After all, last week, one Ivorian journalist asserted on the front page of his newspaper that French paratroopers had fired on a crowd of civilians in Abidjan!:eek:

I guess if Gbagbo had taken back all of his land, he wouldn't take sooooo much time to negociate with the rebels... That guy is very good at talking, and fairly poor at fighting... The Ivorians will REALLY need these foreign mercs you guys are talking about if they want to get somewhere with their war...:D

[Gunship]

The Link (http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/West_Africa/0,1113,2-11-998_1279941,00.html)

Bouake - Thousands of people turned out for a rebel meeting on Sunday in the central Ivory Coast town of Bouake, where the leaders of the insurgency again demanded the president's resignation.

"Stop the negotiations, it's a trap!" protesters shouted. "We support you," they screamed to the rebel leaders, while waving placards that denounced President Laurent Ggagbo.

About 25 000 people attended the meeting to listen to rebel leaders speak about the negotiations with government under way in the Togolese capital Lome.

"Gbagbo must resign! We don't trust him at all in these negotiations," said Guillaume Soro, secretary general of the rebels' political wing, the Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement.

Soro, who leads the rebel negotiating team along with Colonel Michel Gueu, returned to Bouake late Saturday. Two other rebel leaders, Sergeant Sherif Usman and Master Sergeant Tuo Fozie, returned to Bouake on Friday.

"We have the means to take up Gbagbo's challenge," Soro said.

If Gbagbo "abuses the ceasefire, we will go all the way to Abidjan," Soro said. "If it weren't for the French presence, we would already be there."

The government and the rebels agreed to a ceasefire on October 17. The deal cleared the way for peace talks, and France has deployed troops to monitor the truce.

Soro said the rebels would never agree to the government's demand that they disarm and confine themselves to barracks.

Usman told the crowd that he regretted the "false statements" government negotiators had made in Lome.

"While we negotiate, they say over in Abidjan that we have capitulated, that our troops on the ground will demobilize," he said angrily.

But the rebel leaders said they would go back to Lome on Monday, when the negotiations are scheduled to resume.

Rebels have gained control of the northern half of Ivory Coast since they began their uprising on September 19, disrupting one of the region's strongest economies, which produces 40% of the world's cocoa. - Sapa-AFP

[126.9]

Hey Geweerskip-

Did you used to lecture ATPL plotting at AVEX some many years ago? :cool:

[AMEX]

Treetopflyer boet, thought you might know something about it;) Hope the you manage to keep the beer cold though :D

[Gunship]

126.9 - Nee bru, the closest I came to civillian flying was a PPL when I was still in school - it lapsed in Standard 9 when I was 16 years old.

Closest to be a lecturer was in the SAAF where I used to be an constructor for 8 years. I used to teach Helicopter Aerodinamics and Navigation. :cool:

Have a gr8 day bru ... :)

[Gunship]

SA m*********s (hate that word as it is B***sh*t ) teach Ivorians how to fly

Abidjan

12 November 2002 11:27

French, South African and Bulgarian mercenaries have arrived in Ivory Coast
to help the army counter a rebellion that has split the west African country
in two, government sources admitted here on Monday.

They said the 50 odd mercenaries are mainly helicopter pilots who have been
hired to teach the army to handle new equipment it has acquired since the
start of the uprising on September 19.

"The mercenaries we have employed are instructors who have to teach the
Ivorian soldiers how to use new arms we have received for our war effort,"
said a source close to President Laurent Gbagbo's regime.

"We do not see them going into combat alongside our troops. They are meant to
help organise the military and to take care of certain security issues," he
added.

An analyst at the Institute of Security Studies in Pretoria said in late
October that about 40 mercenaries, some of them South Africans, had arrived
in Ivory Coast to help the army, and that 160 would soon follow.

But Gbagbo's aides at the time dismissed this as rumours.

A high-ranking officer in the Ivory Coast army on Monday confirmed the
mercenaries' presence in the country but was indignant at any suggestion that
they would fight alongside Ivorian soldiers.

"It would be humiliating for us. We will never allow the government to deploy
mercenaries to fight in this war. The only foreigners we will accept, are
flight teams for the combat helicopters we have just received," he said.

Air force sources said the hired helicopter pilots are mainly Bulgarian. They
will work with three Russian-made MI-24 Hind helicopters recently acquired by
the government and two MI-8 carrier helicopters.

Witnesses last week spotted the MI-24 flying over Bassam, 40 kilometres from
Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan, and firing practice rounds.

According to intelligence sources, some of the mercenaries work for Sandline
International, a company which says on its Internet website it provides
"military services" and has operated in Sierra Leone in 1998 and in Papua New
Guinea in 1997.

The sources said its men were due to train Ivorian soldiers to use recently
acquired Russian-made weapons and vehicles, including heavy machine guns and
armoured personnel carriers.

The Ivory Coast crisis, the worst since independence in 1960, has claimed 400
lives. A ceasefire was signed in October but setbacks in peacetalks have
raised fears of more fighting. - Sapa-AFP

[Gunship]

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast Nov 28 Sapa-AP

COAST French troops stationed in divided Ivory Coast headed into the bush Thursday to investigate rebel claims that government forces had violated a month-old cease-fire by bombarding villages held by insurgents. The claims raised the specter of more fighting in the West African nation, economically crippled by a two-month uprising that has split the former French colony into a government-held south and rebel-held north. West African mediators are struggling to save stalled peace talks in nearby Togo, where a rebel delegation was due to submit its response Thursday to a draft accord. The rebels rejected a first blueprint. Regional leaders are desperate to avoid more fighting in Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa producer, and home to millions of immigrants from neighboring countries. A spokesman for the 1,000-strong French force said Thursday its soldiers would travel to the area around the central rebel-held town of Vavoua to investigate the claims and would report back by early afternoon. "They have gone out into the field in helicopters and vehicles," Lt. Col. Ange-Antoine Leccia said. French troops are positioned between the warring factions, monitoring the cease-fire. Rebel leader Tuo Fozie said Wednesday that loyalist forces in Mi-24 helicopter gunships attacked villages near Vavoua, striking a crowded market place. He did not name the villages, but an aide said Pelezi, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west Vavoua, was hit. Earlier Wednesday, an army spokesman said loyalist forces were going on the offensive following an attack on their positions near Man, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of the commercial capita,l Abidjan. Rebels denied the accusation and said they had no troops in that area. French forces said they had flown over the area and found no sign of fighting. Rebels, including around 800 recently dismissed soldiers, launched a failed coup attempt on Sept. 19. Hundreds were killed in the first days of fighting, and tens of thousands have fled their homes. On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin held talks with Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan, as part of a regional tour to push for a peaceful solution. Later, de Villepin flew to neighboring Burkina Faso - blamed by Ivory Coast authorities for backing the rebels - for talks with President Blaise Compaore. "You know to what extent the destiny, the unity and integrity of Ivory Coast is important to us," de Villepin said after meeting Compaore. Compaore said de Villepin had brought a message from Gbagbo, reaffirming the friendship between the two countries. Around 3 million nationals from Burkina Faso live in Ivory Coast but tens of thousands have left during the conflict, fleeing growing anti-foreigner sentiment. The rebels say they are fighting against the discrimination of mainly Muslim northern tribes by Christian and animist southern groups that have traditionally dominated government. The conflict has fanned simmering ethnic tensions between northern and southern groups. Peace talks have ground to a halt on rebel demands that Gbagbo resign to clear the way for new elections, and the authorities' insistence that the rebels disarm. Both sides have been rearming during the talks, and have accused each other of atrocities. The government has charged the rebels with summary executions and rape, while the insurgents say the government is operating death squads in Abidjan. Both sides deny the charges. Human rights groups say some of those targeted by alleged death squads are members of the northern-based opposition, headed by Alassane Dramane Ouattara. A former prime minister, Ouattara is accused by many Gbagbo supporters of backing the rebellion. He denies the charge. Ouattara had been in hiding with French diplomats since Sept. 19, but De Villepin said Wednesday he had left. Regional diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had flown to nearby Gabon.


REBEL POSITIONS, FRENCH ARMY SAYS
LEADS throughout to UPDATE with reports of fighting in western
town of Danane; TRIMS dated material
By CLAR NI CHONGHAILE
Associated Press Writer
Hundreds of Ivory Coast loyalist troops were advancing Thursday
toward a central rebel-held town to attack insurgents behind a
two-month uprising, French army spokesman said, raising the specter
of an all-out war in the divided West African nation.
"It is an incident that we qualify as serious," said Lt. Col.
Ange-Antoine Leccia, spokesman for the 1,000-strong French force
monitoring a month-old cease-fire in the former French colony.
The troops left the government-held city of Daloa on Thursday
morning and were headed toward Vavoua, 55 kilometers (35 miles)
away, Leccia said. They included a large number of English-speaking
African and white mercenaries, he said.
Rebel sources accused South African mercenaries of doubling
around French troops near Vavoua to attack their positions.
Residents in the western government-held town of Danane, near
the border with Liberia, also reported fighting Thursday.
French forces had not yet been able to verify the reports, but
Leccia said he did not think the rebel group that has split the
country was involved in those clashes. He did not elaborate.
"The fighting started this morning, and it is very heavy," said
a cocoa buyer in Danane, reached by telephone. "We are all hiding,
the children are scared, everyone is shouting."
"Nobody is moving, nobody is going out," said another resident,
who gave his name only as Hugue. Machine gun fire could be heard as
he spoke on the telephone.
Ivory Coast has been split into a government-held south and
rebel-held north since insurgents launched a failed coup attempt on
Sept. 19. Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands have fled
their homes.
Word of the loyalist advance came after government and rebel
forces traded accusations of violating the truce signed Oct. 17.
The army said Wednesday it was going on the offensive after
rebels attacked its positions near the western city of Man, about
500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of the commercial capital,
Abidjan. Rebels denied they had attacked, and French forces said
they had seen no sign of combat.
Later Wednesday, Rebels said loyalist troops had used Mi-24
helicopter gunships to bombard villages in the zone under their
control. Rebel leader Tuo Fozie said 40 civilians were killed in
the village of Bonifla, near Vavoua. The village of Pelezi was also
hit, according to one of Fozie's aides.
French troops were verifying the rebel claims Thursday.
"War has resumed," headlined the state-run daily Fraternite
Matin in its Thursday edition.
The troop movements come as West African mediators struggled to
save stalled peace talks in nearby Togo. Regional leaders are eager
to avoid all-out war in Ivory Coast, a regional economic powerhouse
that is home to millions of immigrants.
As government troops headed toward Vavoua, the rebel delegation
at the talks met Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who is
hosting the negotiations. There was no immediate reaction from the
mediators to the troop movements.
The rebels say they are fighting against the discrimination of
mainly Muslim northern tribes by Christian and animist southern
groups that have traditionally dominated government. The conflict
has fanned simmering ethnic tensions between northern and southern
groups.
Peace talks have ground to a halt on rebel demands that Gbagbo
resign to clear the way for new elections, and the authorities'
insistence that the rebels disarm. Both sides have been rearming
during the talks, and have accused each other of atrocities.
The government has charged the rebels with summary executions
and rape, while the insurgents say the government is operating
death squads in Abidjan. Both sides deny the charges.
Human rights groups say some of those targeted by the alleged
death squads are members of the northern-based opposition, headed
by Alassane Dramane Ouattara. A former prime minister, Ouattara is
accused by many Gbagbo supporters of backing the rebellion. He
denies the charge.
Ouattara had been in hiding with French diplomats since Sept.
19, but French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin, who met
Gbagbo in Abidjan for talks Wednesday, said he had left. Regional
diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had
flown to Gabon.

[Gunship]

News 24 (http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,1113,2-11-1447_1291065,00.html)

Abidjan - Ivory Coast plunged back towards all-out conflict on Thursday after rebels in the West African country said that many people had been killed in helicopter gunship raids behind their lines.

"War has resumed," trumpeted state-owned daily Fraternite Matin in big red type.

French troops said they were on their way to investigate the reports of Wednesday's air attacks, which if confirmed would be the worst ceasefire violation since they started policing a truce six weeks ago in the world's top cocoa producer.

A commander of the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI) rebels said he thought 40 people had been killed in attacks on Wednesday on Vavoua, Pelezi and Diafla, over 450km northwest of the main city of Abidjan.

"There were many dead and injured among the civilians," Sergeant Zacharias Kone said by satellite telephone from Vavoua. "I've got four dead bodies here with me."

There was no independent report of any casualties.

But a military source confirmed that the army's newly acquired Russian-built Mi-24 "Hind" gunships had struck rebel targets in response to earlier assaults on loyalist positions in the northwest.

"They are attacking us all the time. We can't carry on like this. I can confirm there were helicopter attacks," he said.

Benchmark March cocoa futures quickly climbed more than one percent when markets opened in London. Ivory Coast produces 40% of world output of the beans used to make chocolate and markets are extremely sensitive to news of fighting.

A French military spokesperson said soldiers were heading for the area where the attacks were reported and he expected more details by Thursday afternoon.

Rebel commander Kone said his fighters had no order to attack and would not go on the offensive unless they got one.

"Gbagbo has chosen war, but the MPCI is ready," said the rebels' website.

Hundreds of people were killed in four weeks of bloodshed after a failed coup on September 19. The ceasefire left rebels holding the largely Muslim north and President Laurent Gbagbo's forces the south, helping further sharpen ethnic bitterness.

The rebels say they are fighting to end years of discrimination against northerners and want Gbagbo to step aside to allow new elections.

The government insists the rebels disarm, accusing their leaders of being power-hungry army deserters in the pocket of neighbouring countries.

West African countries fear that a return to war in the country of more than 16 million could send chaos spilling across their borders and have been trying to patch together a deal to satisfy both sides.

Despite the trouble in Ivory Coast, mediators in Togo said on Wednesday the foes had made progress on their differences and might soon be in a position to sign an accord.

Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, who was at the root of years of turbulence long before the latest crisis, flew into exile on Wednesday from his hideout at the French ambassador's residence. He had said security forces tried to kill him.

Courts ruled that the former prime minister could not stand in elections two years ago because of doubts over his nationality. His supporters said that was just a ploy to keep his Muslim north from power.

Although the government never accused Ouattara of supporting the rebels, many of Gbagbo's militants believed he had a hand in a rebellion dominated by his northern kinsmen.

[Gunship]

Anybody got more info on the chopper that was shot down by a SAM today in the Ivory Coast ?

[Treetopflyer]

The guys apparently got hit over Daloa, and had to make an emergency landing on the town's central plot. Everybody onboard is alright.:)

Also, the day before, a Cessna 402 of the Ivorian Air Force was hit by AK47 bullets while flying reconnaissance over Vavoua. They lost an engine, an one gear leg would not go down. The (local) pilot finally made it to Yamoussoukro where he crash landed safely... With both engines gone, we probably won't see that plane flying again in our lifetime...

[Gunship]

Lo Treetopflyer,

It is a fact that a Mi-24 or maybe a Mi-8 / 17 went down and obviously with South Africans on board (as the media speculates). Fortunaletly no next - of - kin has been informed .. but you never know the delayed action. We just hope and pray this side.

Cheers - sad to hear about the two 402's going down this weekend :(

[Gunship]

News 24 (http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,1113,2-11-1447_1292288,00.html)

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."

[Gunship]

Treetop,

I must have been http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/boozer.gif sorry you gave me en answer !

Do you have more info ? About the 402 as well if you have please. All the best !

[Gunship]

News 24 (http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/0,1113,2-11_1294308,00.html)

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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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.

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Cape Times (http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=271&fArticleId=33514)

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 (http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/198945.htm)

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.