Posted on 03/12/2015 10:45:33 AM PDT by Theoria
Hundreds of South African mercenaries and hired fighters of other nationalities are playing a decisive role in Nigeria’s military campaign against Boko Haram, operating attack helicopters, armored personnel carriers and fighting to retake towns and villages captured by the Islamist militant group, according to senior officials in the region.
The Nigerian government has not acknowledged the presence of the mercenaries, but a senior government official in northern Nigeria said the South Africans — camped out in a remote portion of the airport in Maiduguri, the city at the heart of Boko Haram’s uprising — conduct most of their operations at night because “they really don’t want to let people know what is going on.”
He said the mercenaries’ role was crucial, part of a new offensive against Boko Haram after a nearly six-year insurrection. The Nigerian military, under pressure because of a presidential election to be held this month, has recently claimed a string of successes against Boko Haram, boasting about the recapture of a number of towns.
The mercenaries “are in the vanguard in the liberation of some of the communities,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
A senior Western diplomat confirmed that the South Africans were playing “a major operational role,” particularly at night. Equipped with night vision goggles, the mercenaries “are whacking them in the evening hours. The next morning the Nigerian Army rolls in and claims success,” the diplomat said.
The mercenaries “are doing the heavy lifting,” said the diplomat, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. “They own the night.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I hope the Mercenaries succeed greatly, as the article mentions, I know SA took measures:
“South Africa’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministries did not respond to requests for comment, but in an implicit acknowledgment of the mercenaries’ presence in Nigeria, the South African defense minister has said that mercenaries fighting abroad will be arrested on their return to South Africa.”
But surely, fighting Terrorists, especially a rag-tag outfit like BH is good.
Right, and they are going to pay them with the money they will inherit from a distant relative prince. All the mercs have to do is send them $800 bucks to pay the lawyer’s fees!
About bloody time. Sierra Leone hired mercenaries, mainly South Africans, when faced with a similar nut job insurgency. If I remember right a few hundred mercenaries in no time had the insurgents supposedly numbering in the thousands on the run.
If Victor Davis Hanson wrote an updated version of “Carnage and Culture” he could incorporate how the mercenaries operating in Africa show the superiority of the Western way of war.
I think I smell a *Prince* in there, somewhere...
Or murder inc!
Thanks Theoria.
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