Memories of the 28th Century

A few days ago I remembered how mercenaries had been quite significant in African wars a few decades ago, and the wars weren’t as messy as what is going on in Nigeria with Boko Haram and in and around Uganda with the Lord's Resistance Army. There were several rebellions in the Congo that used mercenaries extensively. Groups assembled by Bob Denard, Jean Schramme, and Mad Mike Hoare cleaned up many rebellions that would have grown into messes as bad as Boko Haram, if they hadn’t been put down. The various companies sometimes changed sides, but that was very rare. It was more common for last year’s ally to this year’s enemy but in a different country.

The main difference between those mercenary companies and the more recent companies that the U.S. used as contractors in Iraq is that the older ones had some discipline and enough intelligence that they didn’t fire indiscriminately into crowds. But they also had commanders who knew the situations and wouldn’t go into a sure loss, unless they had a way to get out quickly.

I did a little research into mercenaries today, and it turns out that there are several hundred thousand of them around the world, but the statistics I saw used a rather broad definition that included security guards, logistics support companies, and other non-combatant roles.

The Belgian Congo had no preparation for independence. The people were uneducated. There were no institutions for government, except for regional directors. The people fell back onto tribal customs, alliances, and government, which meant that a few people tried to take over, and a few other people tried to take over mineral rich Katanga Province. Belgium basically just abandoned the country, and the country was too large to be cohesive. The mercenaries initially were hired to protect foreign workers, but they left and the mercenaries went to work for the warring parties. If you have any interest, then I would suggest that you read about the Congo. It was complicated, and I don’t remember all of it, but it was one of those things that were truly stranger than fiction. I still haven't figured out why Mobutu ended up running the Congo.

After that Denard, Hoare, and others went back and forth over Africa trying to win for whoever was paying them, and they often did. Denard went on to conquer the Comoro Islands twice; and he ruled that country for a time; he was also tried for his actions. I and charges were dismissed. He may not have been on the right side always, but he did good work. Mike Hoare had a similar career, but his attempt at conquering a country for himself was doomed to failure.

I won't bore readers with the details, but if you like thrillers, war stories, and madness in your reading, then reading the biographies of these guys would serve you quite well. Another mercenary adventurer who won a country was James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak. He gained his country around 1840, and his family ruled Sarawak until after WW II. There are a couple of good biographies of Brooke, but I first encountered him in Flashman's Lady by George McDonald Fraser. A large part of the novel was rewritten from the memoirs of the captain of a British warship that was assigned to the area. Brooke fought against bandits who oppressed the people of the region. If someone were to go against Boko Haram and Lord's Resistance Army in similar ways, it would be good for the people of those regions.


But it would be nice, if Bob Denard were young and healthy again and interested in running wars. Although Boko Haram is said to have some 30,000 men; I suspect that it would fall apart if a few key people were removed, and it became clear that they weren’t going to be able to have free rein anymore.

The Lord’s Resistance Army is strange group that says it wants to set up a country based on the ten commandments, so they kill, rape, kidnap, etc. to bring themselves closer to their goal. They have actively kidnapped children to be soldiers. I suspect that taking out a few people at the top and putting the rest in positions where they could escape probably would result in almost all of them running.

The problems here are that savages are being allowed to run wild. The UN was set up to do something about such problems, but it isn't doing much. Denard got off on most charges, because there was some evidence that he was acting for the French government; similar arms length mercenaries probably could do some useful work these days. But personally I would rather follow James Brooke's example.





Obit of Denard in the Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/9982943

Jean Schramme
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schramme

Mike Hoare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Hoare


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s_Resistance_Army