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| Europe |
| French mercenary Bob Denard dies |
| 2007-10-14 |
| The French mercenary, Bob Denard, has died, his family says. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. "I confirm that he has died," his sister Georgette Garnier told Reuters. Denard, 78, was notorious for leading coups in Africa, including four in the Comoros Islands - the most recent of which was in 1995. He was convicted in French courts for his efforts to overthrow governments in Benin in 1977 and the Comoros, but both jail sentences were suspended. His trial last year in connection with the 1995 Comoros coup attempt took place with him in absentia as a result of his illness. Convicted of "belonging to a gang who conspired to commit a crime", Denard received a five-year suspended jail sentence. Denard was born Gilbert Bourgeaud in Bordeaux in 1929. After serving in the French navy in Indochina, he joined the police in colonial Morocco where he was convicted of an assassination plot against French Prime Minister Pierre Mendes-France. Despite this incident, Denard claimed he was acting in the interests of France or other European powers, and once described himself as "a soldier never an assassin". His life story is filled with colourful anecdotes. In 1968 Denard and several hundred fighters tried to invade Katanga, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, by bicycle. His 1995 coup attempt in the Comoros involved arriving with 30 men in inflatable boats. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #7 * "Both jail sentences were suspended" + "soldier, not an assassin" > read, Denard's backers were too powerful = PC to expose. * "30 men in inflatable boats" > Denard's ultimate weakness was sticking to good schemes-methodisms for the wrong = incomplete objectives or mission types. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-10-14 22:09 |
| #6 I didn't think that song was meant to refer to any particular war in Africa; it seems to refer to at least two separate wars (the Biafran war and at least one civil war in the Congo) but appears to talk about them as if they were a single war. Possibly on purpose. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-10-14 21:57 |
| #5 that was the campaign with Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner? The one after that - Denard was wounded during the Second Stanleyville uprising. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-10-14 20:42 |
| #4 Denard, 78, was notorious for leading coups in Africa, including four in the Comoros Islands If at first you don't succeed ... |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-10-14 13:48 |
| #3 that was the campaign with Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-10-14 12:45 |
| #2 Denard, 78, was notorious for leading coups in Africa, including four in the Comoros Islands - the most recent of which was in 1995. Notorious, yes. Effective no. He pretty much went downhill after a head wound in 1967 in the Congo. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-10-14 12:41 |
| #1 Wikipedia article on Denard "Colonel" Bob Denard, known in Arabic as Said Mustapha Mahdjoub (April 7, 1929 – October 14, 2007) was perhaps the most famous and influential mercenary since World War II. He was known for having done various jobs in the Françafrique for Jacques Foccart, in charge of French president Charles de Gaulle's covert actions, in particular in Africa. He also worked for the British MI6. Born as Gilbert Bourgeaud, he was the father of eight children and had been married seven times (polygamously), after converting to Islam. |
| Posted by: john frum 2007-10-14 12:22 |