From the article "Soldiers of Fortune" and "Wild Geese", we remember that, after returning to Paris from the Congo, Robert Denard began to work on the creation of a recruiting firm called Soldier of Fortune. But in his office Denard was bored, and therefore he himself continued to fight. At the same time, he never hid behind the backs of his fighters, and therefore, as he himself recalled, in his life "was wounded 5 times, not counting scratches."
At some point, Denard's reputation reached such heights that in force majeure situations, when he took under personal protection any applicant or an already established dictator, they were ready to pay him up to 20 thousand dollars per hour. To Izvestia journalist G. Zotov, who was interested in the prices for his services, Denard said with a grin:
“There is one price on Komor, but in Moscow it will be more expensive … Do you have any special coup plan? If there is, let's discuss, maybe I'll like it and I'll give you a discount … If someone orders three coups in bulk, it will be cheaper."
(It seems that with such an answer Denard simply "reined in" the dilettante who asked the inappropriate question.)
But you don't need to think that, having appeared in any country, Bob Denard immediately took his beloved AK-47 in his hands and began to shoot from it in all directions, cleaning out the surroundings. No, he also provided much more serious services: somewhere he helped to form guards units, somewhere he helped in the creation of counterintelligence, acted as a military adviser, advised on various delicate matters, and trained personnel.
The New Adventures of Bob Denard
After the defeat of the "uprising of the white mercenaries" (it was described in the article "Soldiers of Fortune" and "Wild Geese") and his return from Congo, Denard received an invitation from his old friend Roger Fulk, who invited him to Nigeria. There, at that time, a new self-proclaimed state appeared - the Republic of Biafra (existed until January 1970).
Here Bob Denard performed mainly the functions of "mercenaire de la charite" - "mercenary of mercy": he was involved in the evacuation of refugees from the war zone. But the situation was such that from time to time I had to fight.
Then the paths of friends parted: making sure of the inevitability of the defeat of the rebels, Fulk prematurely withdrew his people from Biafra and returned to France, and Robert Denard went to Gabon, where Albert Bongo, a former captain of the French Air Force, was in power (in 1973 he would convert to Islam and will become El-Hajj Omar Bongo). Denard became an instructor to the presidential guard and military adviser to the president, and was also instrumental in the creation of the Societe Gabonaise de Securite, the country's counterintelligence service. He also carried out another, unusual and unexpected assignment: he supervised the construction of a social settlement in the city of Lekoni, an African analogue of the Israeli kibbutz that had been "spied" in Côte d'Ivoire.
In 1971, Denard ended up in Mauritania, where he also took part in organizing the presidential guard of this country (apparently, this has already become one of the main specialties of this Merseneur commander), in 1972 he trained detachments of Kurdish separatists in Iran, who were just about to fight in Iraqi Kurdistan. … Having briefly glanced in 1973 in Guinea, the next year he went to Libya, which at that time, against the background of the ongoing civil war in the country, entered the troops of neighboring Egypt. He fought on the side of the monarchists.
On August 3, 1975, Denard was in the Comoros for the first time, the result of this visit was the flight of Ahmed Abdallah Abderman, the president of this small state and a former senator of France. Then he participated in the training of special units of the secret services of Morocco.
Fatal setback in Benin
It was the king of Morocco who was the "sponsor" of the unsuccessful coup in Benin in 1977. According to Denard himself, through this monarch, the French special services reached out to him, and the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo, provided the base for training.
It all started well: Denard's people immediately captured the capital's airport and, having reached the presidential palace, began to fire at it from grenade launchers, partially collapsing the walls. But Denard was desperately unlucky that day: President Kereke at that time was in the port, where a ship with Soviet small arms was unloading. Upon learning of the attack on the palace, he raised the alarm for army units, even sending his personal guard North Korean special forces into battle. Denard's squad with a fight retreated to the airport, where the plane that brought the mercenaries to Benin was damaged in a firefight. They had to seize an Indian airliner, on which they reached the capital of Rhodesia, Salisbury, where they were arrested.
This story turned into great trouble for Denard in the future, since it was for this unsuccessful attempt that he was convicted in France in 1993. Denard then lamented that he had suffered, fulfilling the instructions of the heads of four states, which in the end turned out to have nothing to do with it, and he received 5 years probation 16 years after those events.
But let's return to Rhodesia and see that Denard did not disappear there, but, on the contrary, found himself in the role of an instructor of units that participated in battles with partisans. Indeed, it would be foolish for the Rhodesians not to use the services of a specialist of such a level who literally “descended from heaven” into their territory.
Return to Congo
And in the summer of 1977, Denard ended up in the Congo, where he fought … for Mobutu, of course, the dictator whom he and Schramm tried to overthrow in 1967 (this was described in the article "Soldiers of Fortune" and "Wild Geese").
At that time, the troops of the National Liberation Front of the Congo ("Katanga Tigers"), led by General Nathaniel Mbumba, the same one who, together with Jean Schramm, defended the city of Bukava for three months in the same 1967, invaded the Shaba province from the territory of Angola.
At the request of Valerie Giscard d'Estaing (President of France), King Hassan II of Morocco sent fifteen hundred paratroopers to Zaire, with whom Denard arrived. In November, the Tigers were defeated and retreated to Angola.
Mobutu met Denard as a family and did not ask him a single question about the events of 10 years ago: whoever remembers the old will be out of sight. And, I think, he was very glad at the same time that an old acquaintance came to the Congo with Moroccans, and not with the "Tigers". In 1978, the "Tigers" will again come to Katanga and the legionnaires of the Second Parachute Regiment of the Foreign Legion will have to fight them. But about this - another time and in another article, which you will soon be able to read.
Denard returned to the Comoros in 1978.
Operation Atlantis
The customer for the second coup in the Comoros was Ahmed Abdallah Abderman, the former president whom Denard successfully “dismissed” two and a half ago. Before the then head of the Comoros Maoist Ali Sualikh Mtsashiva, Denar had no obligations, since he himself (later) came to power as a result of a coup d'état.
It was with this operation, which Denard called "Atlantis", that the great world fame of this mercenary commander began. A total of 46 Merseneurs (almost all of them were French) sailed on a fishing trawler from the port of Lorient (Brittany) and after a long voyage on May 29, 1978, landed right on the beach in Moroni (capital of the Republic of the Comoros, Gran Comore island). A lightning attack followed the residence of the head of state, the barracks of the National Guard and strongholds of the youth paramilitary movement "Moissy".
The head of the Comoros, Ali Sualikh, was rumored to have been shot dead in the bed in which he slept with his two wives, but Denard claimed that the local opponents, who had been taken out of the palace, had been seized and torn to pieces by his local opponents.
After that, other islands were captured: Anjouan and Moheli.
Returning Ahmed Abdallah appointed Denard as Interior Minister and Commander of the Presidential Guard.
However, outrage at Denard's actions was expressed by the United States and France (which wanted to maintain their monopoly on the right to organize military coups in Africa) and the Organization of African Unity. This uproar around the distant and little-known to the inhabitants of the Comoros proves that until 1978 Denard really, as always claimed, worked in close contact with the special services, and therefore the "world community" until then treated his activities very condescendingly.
On September 26, Robert Denard, demonstratively giving up all posts, flew to South Africa to return to Comoros in a few days: he decided to stay on these paradise islands.
Denar received the citizenship of Comoros, got married and even converted to Islam and a new name - Said Mustafa Majub, according to some reports, he performed the Hajj.
“In France I am a Christian, and in the Comoros I am a Muslim, that's all. You must respect the religion of the country where you live”, - so he later explained his decision.
He also created a military base for mercenaries here: it was from here that he organized expeditions to Angola and Mozambique.
Denard recalled:
“In the Comoros, my personal barrel was an AK-47 for many years … Russian weapons of excellent quality. Soviet military equipment has been in service with African countries for many years, and this shows its reliability, since Africans can break anything."
After becoming the chief military adviser to the president, he lived in Comoros for the next eleven years. Thanks to his connections in South Africa, the Comoros turned into an important partner of this country, which was under international sanctions, receiving great benefits from trade with it (it was through the Comoros that, for example, the supply of weapons went). The South African government, in turn, provided economic assistance to a friendly state. Thanks to Denard and financial assistance from South Africa, a so-called integration center for agricultural development appeared on the Comoros with an experimental farm, which was allocated 600 hectares of land. Investments in the hotel and construction business also went through Denard.
In 1981, Denard was invited to the CHAD by the Minister of Defense of this country, General Hissen Habré. The "king of mercenaries" led the allies of the minister - the union of the tubu tribes, which in the fall launched an offensive from the territory of Sudan. It all ended with the capture of the capital in June 1982 and the flight of President of Chad Ouedday. After that, Denard began work on the creation of the presidential guard, but under pressure from the jealous French, he was forced to return to the Comoros.
In 1987, Denard found himself in a completely unexpected place - quiet provincial Australia, where he negotiated with emigrants from the island state of the Republic of Vanuatu (previously it was called the New Hebrides). These were the leaders of the banned Wanguaku party, founded by a certain prophet Muli, who tried to revive the religion of the aborigines. In May-June 1980, he led an uprising on the island of Spiritu Santo, was defeated and sentenced to 14 years in prison. They tried to persuade Denard to organize the abduction of the "prophet", but he was not interested in this proposal.
The mysterious death of Ahmed Abdullah Abderman
On the night of November 27, 1989, an event occurred on the Comoros, the reasons for which researchers still cannot come to a common opinion.
Denard later claimed that one of the guards of Ahmed Abdallah Abderman (a close relative of the president) "opened heavy fire from a machine gun without explanation."And that he still does not know who exactly he attempted to assassinate: perhaps the bullets were intended specifically for Denard, while the president was killed by accident.
One way or another, Abdullah died, and in his papers an order was found to transfer powers in case of an emergency to the chief of his guard - Said Mustafa Majub (Robert Denard).
Many decided that Denard decided to get rid of the president in order to put another person in his place, or even to lead this state himself. However, it is known that Abdallah was a close friend of the Frenchman, and they simply did not have any special reasons for such a sharp showdown.
Commandan Ahmed Mohammed, who headed the Forces Armies Comoriennes, is much more suspicious: after the assassination of the president, the presidential guard was disarmed on his order, but Denard was able to take control of the situation.
But in whose interests was Mohammed acting? It is quite possible that the customers were the French, who then "kicked" Denard from the Comoros, sending 3 thousand French soldiers against him with the support of 5 ships.
Denard was forced to flee to South Africa, having lost almost all of his funds, and this serves as an indirect proof of his innocence: otherwise, he would certainly have insured himself by withdrawing part of the funds to some offshore zone. For three years he came to his senses, mainly engaged in writing memoirs and journalism: he founded the news agency Courrier Austral (South Post, not Australian - it specialized in news on South and Subequatorial Africa) and published Magazine de l'homme d'action”(“The Journal of the Man of Action”). But his reputation was such that when on September 26, 1992, a new coup attempt took place in the Comoros (led by the sons of the former president), everyone immediately accused the "king of mercenaries" who were peacefully sitting in South Africa. However, no evidence of Denard's involvement was ever found.
Non-triumphant return to France
In South Africa, at that time, things were going to the victory of the supporters of N. Mandela (who was released from prison on February 11, 1990 and became president on May 10, 1994) and the "white" was already becoming uncomfortable here. Therefore, Denard returned to France on February 1, 1993, where he was immediately arrested on charges of organizing the 1977 coup d'etat in Benin, and spent 65 days in prison (we have already mentioned this in this article). But it suddenly turned out that he often acted in close contact with the French special services, while remaining a private person, and it is difficult to determine the fine line beyond which the interests of France ended and the interests of Denard and his clients began.
“Often the French authorities did not give me the green light, but I drove to yellow,” Denard himself later commented on this.
Therefore, the "king of mercenaries" was given 5 years probation, advising him to live in peace and "not to shine."
Denard was already a world celebrity (even "mad Mike" - Hoare envied his fame). After his release, reports about him hit the front pages of all the media, and TV viewers had the pleasure of seeing tears of nostalgia flowing down the cheeks of the "king of mercenaries" on the streets of his hometown of Bordeaux.
In 1994, Denard took over as Commercial Director of Societe Internationale Business Services, an agency for the recruitment of military specialists (we remember that in France they were often called Merseneurs). Many researchers believe that in the same year, Denard participated in the dispatch of mercenaries to Rwanda, which was in the wake of the civil war.
And in September 1995, Denard suddenly took a personal part in his last military expedition - again to Comoros, where he arrested the pro-French president Said Johar. Well, what can you do? He liked to carry out coups d'etat in the Comoros. At this time, Denard was already 66 years old (according to some sources, 68), but, as they say, you cannot drink skill - your hands remember.
This adventure of the "king of mercenaries", the last years of his life, as well as the fate of other famous condottieri, Roger Fulk, Mike Hoare, Jean Schramm, will be discussed in the next article.
