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Colonel Robert "Bob" Denard (April 7, 1929 – October 13, 2007), sometimes known under the aliases Gilbert Bourgeaud and Saïd Mustapha Mahdjoub, was a French soldier and mercenary. He was known for having performed various jobs in support of ''Françafrique'' (a term referring to France's sphere of influence in its former colonies) for Jacques Foccart, in charge of French president Charles de Gaulle's policy in Africa. Having fought in Algeria during the Algerian War, he then took part in the Katanga secession effort in the 1960s and fought in many African countries including Congo, Angola, Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), and Gabon. Between 1975 and 1995, he participated in four coup attempts in the Comoro Islands. It is widely believed that his adventures had the implicit support of the French state, even after the 1981 election of the French Socialist Party candidate, François Mitterrand, despite moderate changes in France's policy in Africa.〔〔 He was the father of eight children and married seven times (polygamously), after converting to Islam. == Early career == After having served with the French Navy in Indochina and in French Algeria,〔(L'ancien mercenaire Bob Denard est mort ), ''Le Figaro'', October 14, 2007. 〕 Denard served as a colonial policeman in Morocco from 1952 to 1957.〔François Dominguez and Barbara Vignaux, (La nébuleuse des mercenaires français ), ''Le Monde diplomatique'', August 2003. (Arabic and Portuguese translations)〕 In 1954, he was convicted of an assassination plot against Prime Minister Pierre Mendès-France, a left-wing member of the Radical-Socialist Party who was negotiating the end of the Indochina War and withdrawal from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, and served 14 months in jail.〔(Obituary: Bob Denard ), BBC, 14 October 2007 〕 An adamant anti-Communist, Denard then took part in many anti-colonialist struggles, simultaneously on his own behalf and on the behalf of the French state.〔("Bob Denard a toujours agi pour le compte de l'Etat français" ), interview with Xavier Renou in ''Le Monde'', 15 October 2007 〕 Once he was freed from jail, he worked for the French secret services during the war in Algeria.〔 After his discharge from the French navy, Bob Denard was briefly a policeman in Morocco and a demonstrator for washing machines in Paris.〔John Lichfield (Bob Denard ) The Independent, October 16, 2007〕 He began his mercenary career, which was to span three decades, in Katanga, probably in December 1961 when he and other foreign mercenaries were brought in by the leader of the mercenaries in Katanga, Roger Faulques. He became famous after rescuing white civilians encircled by rebels in Stanleyville.〔Sophie Nicholson (Bob Denard: French mercenary behind several post-colonial coups ) The Guardian, October 16, 2007〕 Denard fought there until the secessionist movement led by Moise Tshombe collapsed in January 1963. Then, Denard and his men fled to Portuguese-controlled Angola. Denard is known to have participated in conflicts in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, Benin, Gabon, Angola, Zaire and the Comoros, the last-named nation having been subject to more than twenty ''coups d'état'' in the past decades. For most of his career Denard had the quiet backing of France and the French secret service which wished to maintain French influence over its ex-colonies.〔 In mid-1963 he was in North Yemen, which was then in the middle of a civil war between a Nasserist government and royalist tribesmen. The royalists were supported by the Western European and Saudi Arabia governments. The French and British sponsored a number of mercenaries to train the royalist volunteers in military techniques, and Bob Denard was among those who joined the Imam al-Badr, leader of the royalists.〔 After about eighteen months Denard returned to the Congo to take employment under Moise Tshombe who was now the prime minister of the central government in Leopoldville from July 1964 till October 1965 when was dismissed by President Joseph Kasa Vubu. Denard served for two years in the Congo battling Simba rebels supporters of the late Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, who had been murdered in Katanga in 1961 after having been overthrown by rival politicians and severely tortured while in transit. The Simba rebels were backed by the Chinese and Cubans, including Che Guevara while Lumumba's murderers were tacitly backed by America and Belgium. Denard was in charge of his own unit of French mercenaries called ''les affreux'' (lit. : the awfuls). Denard helped put down an attempted coup on behalf of Tshombe by Katangan separatists in July 1966. A year later Denard sided with Katangan separatists and Belgian mercenaries led by Jean Schramme in a revolt in eastern Congo. The rebels were soon bottled up in Bukavu. Denard was wounded in the initial rising and flew out with a group of more seriously wounded men to Rhodesia. In January 1968 he invaded Katanga with a force of a hundred men on bicycles in an attempt to create a diversion for a breakout from Bukavu. The invasion was a farce. Denard was not involved in mercenary activity in Biafra during the Nigerian civil war during the late 1960s. From 1968 to 1978 he was employed supporting the government in Gabon and was available to carry out military actions on behalf of the French government in Africa. He may have been involved in a raid against Guinea in 1970. He was involved in a failed coup attempt in Benin (''Opération Crevette'', or Operation Shrimp), against Mathieu Kérékou, the leader of the People's Revolutionary Party of Benin, in 1977.〔(Bob Denard, chien de guerre ), ''L'Humanité'', 4 May 1999 〕 Although Jacques Foccart denied knowledge of the attempted coup after its failure, he did recognize that it had been backed-up by Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo), Houphouet-Boigny (Ivory Coast), Omar Bongo (Gabon) and Hassan II (Morocco), all allies of France.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bob Denard」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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