Bob Denard, a colorful and well-known French mercenary who staged coups, battled communism and fought for French interests and his own across post-colonial Africa and elsewhere for more than three decades, has died. He was 78.
Denard died on Saturday in the Paris area, his sister, Georgette Garnier, said by telephone on Sunday. She declined to specify where he died or the cause of death. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease, and was known to have had cardiovascular problems.
Denard was perhaps best known for controlling the impoverished Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros Islands behind a figurehead leader for most of the 1980s following a coup he led.
coup
Denard was twice convicted in France for his role in an attempted coup in Marxist-ruled Benin in 1977, and a later short-lived coup in Comoros in 1995. He received suspended prison terms in each case.
A fervent anti-communist who worked for several dictators and monarchs, Denard was among the postcolonial French mercenaries known as les affreux -- the horrible ones. He claimed the backing of Paris, but as a man of the shadows was never given official support.
Denard was born in southwest France on Jan. 20, 1929, the son of a non-commissioned officer in the French colonial army. His real name was Gilbert Bourgeaud -- Bob Denard was one of about a dozen aliases that he assumed.
Garnier described Denard as a "very obliging" man "who liked to joke," and a military man who was "adored by his men."
In the 1950s, Denard served in France's colonial army in French Indochina and assisted Morocco's police force before it gained independence from France. A later stint in business left him restless.
His career as a hired gun began in 1961, when he moved to the Belgian Congo which was recruiting experienced soldiers to help train government troops. From there, he sold his skills for uprisings in Nigeria, Angola and Zimbabwe, when it was white-ruled Rhodesia.
intelligence work
Denard served the Shah of Iran. He trained royalist troops in Yemen. He claimed he worked with British intelligence there, and with the CIA in Angola -- where he once led mercenaries in by bicycle.
He suffered at least four serious injuries -- one of which, in Congo, left him with a limp for the rest of his life. Another time he was grazed by a bullet on his head in Angola, but remained undaunted, a biographer said.
"He believed in what he was doing," said Pierre Lunel, author of the 1992 biography Bob Denard, Le Roi de Fortune (Bob Denard, King of Fortune).
"He did a job, and of course there were casualties," Lunel said. "It was a time that doesn't resemble today at all. The planet was split between two worlds: The communist world and free world in the West."
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
RSS