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The Selous Scouts was a special forces regiment of the Rhodesian Army, that operated from 1973 until the reconstitution of the country as Zimbabwe in 1980. Named after the British explorer Frederick Courteney Selous (1851–1917), its motto was ''pamwe chete''—a Shona phrase roughly meaning "all together", "together only" or "forward together". The charter of the Selous Scouts directed them to "the clandestine elimination of terrorists/terrorism both within and without the country." ==Historical context== The period during which the Selous Scouts were most active was during the Rhodesian Bush War (or Second ''Chimurenga''). This was a war of annihilation through terrorism and insurgency waged by black guerrillas (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA)/Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA)/Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU)) with the goal of ending white minority rule in Rhodesia, a nation led by Prime Minister Ian Smith. Rhodesia at the time had the highest levels of wealth and one of the highest gross domestic product of any nation in Africa, and its white minority citizens enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the world. However, it was a small nation of a few hundred thousand whites, principally farmers, and lacked access to the sea. As a land-locked nation, that had recently unilaterally declared its independence from Britain, Rhodesia was quickly isolated by the United Kingdom and the United States. The Rhodesian military, comprising the Rhodesian Army and the Air Force, was considered formidable by many foreign observers, but the country's size—relative the larger black-governed nations surrounding it, a lack of support from crucial Western suppliers, and aid provided by the Soviet Union and China to guerrilla insurgents—put Rhodesia in a precarious situation. To deal with the rising insurgency, the Rhodesian government strengthened diplomatic and economic ties with South Africa, as well as with Portugal, which controlled the neighbouring territory of Mozambique until 1975. It concurrently began strengthening its paramilitary and counter-insurgency forces such as the British South Africa Police, the Rhodesian Light Infantry, the Rhodesian Special Air Service (SAS), and the Rhodesian African Rifles. Ultimately, these efforts led to the creation of its counter-insurgency unit, the Selous Scouts. Created under the command of Lt. Col. Ron Reid-Daly, it was organized as a mixed-race unit, consisting of recruits of both African and European descent, and whose primary mission was operating deep in insurgent-controlled territory and waging war on the hostiles' rear through irregular warfare including the use of pseudo-terrorism as a means of infiltrating the enemy. This concept of unit was very similar to the Portuguese Flechas, operating in the nearby territories of Angola and Mozambique since the late 1960s. The Selous Scouts had many black Rhodesians in their ranks who were from 50%–80% of its ranks, including the first African commissioned officers in the Rhodesian Army. 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「Selous Scouts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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