Bob Denard

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Bob Denard (born April 7, 1929 in Grayan-et-l'Hôpital in the Gironde department as Gilbert Bourgeaud ; † October 13, 2007 near Bordeaux) was a French- Comorian mercenary leader . He called himself "Colonel Denard", his Muslim name was Said Mustapha Mahdjoub.

Life

Denard served in the French army in the Indochina War and in Algeria and as a colonial policeman in Morocco , before setting up as a mercenary in the 1960s. As a result, the numerous proxy wars of the Cold War brought him new fields of employment. He and his mercenary troops were involved in coup attempts and civil wars, including in Biafra , Gabon , Angola , Zaire , Zimbabwe , Benin , northern Yemen and Iran . Often his actions in Africa were covered by the French secret service . For France they were an opportunity to intervene in conflicts in the former colonies without the republic becoming involved in international law.

Denard's attempt to break through from Angola to the mercenary rebellion in Zaïre in 1967 failed.

Denard's preferred target was the Comoros , where he was involved in four coup attempts. After ousting President Ahmed Abdallah in a coup in 1975 , he helped him come back to power in another coup in 1978. After the coup, which Denard carried out with 50 mercenaries, 30 mercenaries stayed with him as President Abdallah's presidential guard in the Comoros. Denard became a Comorian citizen, brought the economy of the islands under his control and was considered the unofficial king of the island state. He and his people shared about 90 percent of the state revenue of the 300,000 islanders among themselves. Denard accepted Islam and married two Comorian women.

When François Mitterrand became president in 1981, Denard lost the support of France, but maintained excellent contacts with the French secret service for some time. In 1989, the mercenaries fell out into factions, and President Abdallah died in an exchange of fire, which - depending on the account - is also said to have been an attempted coup. Denard was blamed for this. France intervened at the request of the opposing faction and the Comoran and arrested Denard in 1991. Two years later he was sentenced to five years probation by a court in Paris for his involvement in a 1977 coup in Benin .

In 1995 Denard attempted his last coup in the Comoros, but he had lost France's support for good. Jacques Chirac sent an expeditionary force that the government reinstated. Denard was arrested and sat in France in custody . In 1999 he was tried in Paris for the murder of Abdallah. Numerous Gaullist politicians and the sons of the murdered man testified in his favor and he was acquitted for lack of evidence. In July 2007, however, Denard was sentenced to four years in prison for his involvement in the attempted coup in the Comoros in 1995; three years of which were suspended.

Denard, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, lived in his country house in southern France until his death .

literature

  • Torsten Thomas, Gerhard Wiechmann: Modern Landsknechte or Military Specialists? The "rebirth" of mercenaries in the 20th century in the Congo, 1960–1967 ; in: Stig Förster, Christian Jansen, Günther Kronenbitter (eds.): Return of the Condottieri? War and military between state monopoly and privatization: from antiquity to the present , Paderborn a. a. 2009, pp. 265-282.
  • Anthony Mockler: The New Mercenaries , 2nd ed. New York 1987 (first edition 1985).
  • Christopher Othen: Katanga 1960-63. Mercenaries, Spies and the African Nation that waged War on the World , The History Press, Brimscombe Port Stroud, 2015, ISBN 978-0-7509-6288-9
  • Anthony Rogers: Someone Else's War. Mercenaries from 1960 to the Present , Harper Collins, London 1998, ISBN 0-00-472077-6 , pp. 11-31; 127-147

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Denard, Bob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bourgeaud, Gilbert; Colonel Denard; Said Mustapha Mahdjoub
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French-Comorian mercenary
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Bordeaux
DATE OF DEATH October 13, 2007
Place of death near Bordeaux