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Letter to the editor

Mercenary was among 'horrible ones'

The fervent anticommunist took part in uprisings in Africa.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published October 15, 2007

PARIS - Bob Denard, a mercenary who staged coups, battled communism and fought for French interests and his own across Africa for more than three decades, died Saturday (Oct. 13, 2007), his sister said Sunday. He was 78.

Mr. Denard died in the Paris area, said his sister, Georgette Garnier. She declined to say how he died, but he had suffered from Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular problems.

A fervent anticommunist who had worked for several dictators and monarchs, Mr. Denard was among a group of postcolonial French mercenaries known as les affreux - the horrible ones. He claimed he had the backing of Paris but was never given official support.

Mr. Denard was twice convicted in France for his role in an attempted coup in Marxist-controlled Benin in 1977, and a later short-lived coup in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros Islands in 1995. He received suspended prison terms in each case.

Mr. Denard was perhaps best known for controlling the Comoros behind a figurehead leader for most of the 1980s following a coup he led.

Bob Denard was one of about a dozen aliases that he assumed during his colorful career. His real name was Gilbert Bourgeaud.

After serving in the colonial army in French Indochina in the 1950s, Mr. Denard became a hired gun in 1961 when he moved to the Belgian Congo to help train government troops. From there, he took part in uprisings in Nigeria, Angola and Rhodesia, the British colony that later became Zimbabwe.

Mr. Denard also served the shah of Iran and trained royalist troops in Yemen. He claimed he worked with British intelligence there and with the CIA in Angola.

[Last modified October 14, 2007, 23:44:12]