First South African contractor killed in Nigeria
 

An ex-Koevoet member was killed by friendly fire while fighting Boko Haram in Nigeria. A friend was in a Puma helicopter and also took a few rounds through the chopper in the same incident. Seems the Nigerian army are a little trigger happy.
It seems a Nigerian Army a tank fired on a friendly column of thin skinned vehicles without finding out who they were.

RIP WARRIOR, Vaya con Dios..

RIP.

TR

Rest In Peace!

RIP.
http://www.voanews.com/content/niger...m/2677676.html

It seems that the guys working over there are taking a different tack to how EO worked in Angloa and SL. Not sure if this is a good thing considering the obvious lack of communications and not great discipline from the Nigerian troops.

Interestingly the South African so-called Minister of Defence has been very scathing about this effort calling for the "mercenaries to be arrested and prosecuted" on their return to SA. I'm sure she has many good words to say about the efforts of the official South African response to BH and the vigorous support afforded to the west African nations by the SA military.

It is all a bit of an insult to the SA government. President Zuma offered Nigeria SANDF troops for free. Goodluck Jonathan rejected the offer and instead took these quite expensive old soldiers who had been kicked out of the Army and Police because of Affirmative Action. Most are in their fifties now, but still more effective than the current troops in the SANDF. The irony of an African country preferring Apartheid era soldiers when they are really in trouble has not escaped our alleged government.

Such too was the case with Executive Outcomes in Angola and SL. Those governments wanted nothing to do with the new SA government because of the double dealing and dishonesty. They knew then that the SADF guys were soldiers at heart and would do the right thing, just as the Nigeys realise today.

The SA government is also susceptible to being strong armed by other powers with interests in the region increasing Nigerian skepticism about South Africa's singular commitment to BH problem solving. I'm just not sure if having various different groups all doing their own thing in a fragmented manner is conducive to mission accomplishment or personal survival. But admittedly my details are thin on the ground other then what is in the public domain.

Latest news out of Nigeria: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/13/wo...ries.html?_r=2

RIP

Rest in Peace. rus in vrede, maar stuur vir meer nag visie bril

Good luck Superdave. Night vison goggles are a must in darkest Africa. Bokonaai Boet.

Rest in Peace.

Most of the chaps are back. Only 8 over there now. The President stopped the renewal of the contract when it seemed that the guys had done enough to get him re-elected. Elections are tomorrow, so I think whatever happens, there will be no more foreign action in Nigeria until the next election needs to be won. If Goodluck wins, he won't spend any more money to make the north safer for his people because he really doesn't care about them, except to the extent that it appears to all Nigerians that he had lost control of the country. If a new bloke gets elected, he really won't want Goodlucks mercenaries swanning around the place, in case they get ideas of re-instating the old regime.
That said, the guys did a terrific job, killing many thousands Boko Haram terrorists, but the consensus is that the Nigerian Army won't be able to prevail if there is a resurgence from foreign countries again.

Hey Guy- Do you think you could have the remaining guys shoot the assholes that keep sending me emails that say they are going to send me $17,000,000.00 if I give them my account number?

Whoa, Mark. Just have the guys pick up the money in person, give it to Mike (Guy) and he and his family could bring it to you personally, overstay their visas, and become citizens. :D Win/win/win! (I get a 10% cut, by the way, for the suggestion. ;))

Pat