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| Africa Subsaharan |
| French Legionnaire kills three colleagues in Chad and flees |
| 2009-04-07 |
| April 7 (Bloomberg) — A soldier of the French Foreign Legion serving in Chad killed three of his colleagues and is on the run, a military command spokesman said. The man killed two other legionnaires of the French military force and a soldier from the African state of Togo. “He fired at his comrades in an irrational act and is now on the run,” Lieutenant Colonel Francois-Marie Gougeon, spokesman for the French Army said over the telephone. “The priority is to find him.” Gougeon said he didnt know whether the soldier left with his weapon. The troops were killed in the military “Camps des Etoiles,” near the town of Abeche in eastern Chad, he said. The French Foreign Legion soldiers who were killed and the one who shot them are part of a European peacekeeping force in Chad. The Togolese soldier was part of the United Nations force that is taking over operations from the Europeans, Gougeon said. France has 2,100 troops in Chad, he said. There are about 5,200 peacekeepers as part of the U.N.s MINURCAT mission in Chad, Agence France-Presse reported. They are charged with protecting refugees from Sudans Darfur region and others fleeing rebel insurgency in Chad and the northern Central African Republic. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #5 For most of its existence, the Legion was officered by Frenchmen but the enlisted were all non-French. Only fairly recently have Frenchmen been allowed to legally enlist. While I cannot recall the term right now, there is a "madness" well known to the Legion that strikes in these isolated postings. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2009-04-07 21:44 |
| #4 As I understand it officers are all French born. Career Legionnaires can get commissioned, but IIRC their course of promotion limits them to Captain. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-04-07 18:29 |
| #3 French news agencies say nothing aboiut his rank but the terms seem to point that he is a private. For info Frenchmen _are_ allowed to serve in the Foreign Legion. Non-French are allowed but it is not a requirement. |
| Posted by: ly a ctholic thing. 2009-04-07 17:38 |
| #2 As I understand it officers are all French born. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-04-07 16:23 |
| #1 Update... PARIS (AFP) — European peacekeepers on Tuesday launched a manhunt for a "deranged" French Foreign Legion officer who killed two comrades, a Togolese UN peacekeeper, and a civilian in Chad. "Gunshots were heard in the (military) camp and then the two legionnaires were found and then a little further away the body of the Togolese soldier was discovered," said Captain Christophe Prazuck. It appeared that the soldier, an officer he described as "deranged," opened fire with his service weapon and then escaped from the scene, Prazuck said. A local official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the legionnaire had later shot and killed a Chadian civilian after he resisted the fugitive's attempt to steal his horse. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-04-07 15:41 |