Al J. Venter's Books

Portugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa

Lisbon's Three Wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea 1961-74

By: Al J. Venter

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Portugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa

Lisbon's Three Wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea 1961-74

By: Al J. Venter

Nominated for the NYMAS Arthur Goodzeit Book Award 2013 Portugal's three wars in Africa in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea (Guiné-Bissau today) lasted almost 13 years - longer than the United States Army fought in Vietnam. Yet they are among the most underreported conflicts of the modern era. Commonly referred to as Lisbon's Overseas War (Guerra do Ultramar) or in the former colonies, the War of Liberation (Guerra de Libertação), these struggles played a seminal role in ending white rule in Southern Africa. Though hardly on the scale of hostilities being fought in South East Asia, the casualty count by the time a military coup d'état took place in Lisbon in April 1974 was significant. It was certainly enough to cause Portugal to call a halt to violence and pull all its troops back to the Metropolis. Ultimately, Lisbon was to move out of Africa altogether, when hundreds of thousands of Portuguese nationals returned to Europe, the majority having left everything they owned behind. Independence for all th Indeed, on a recent visit to Central Mozambique in 2013, a youthful member of the American Peace Corps told this author that despite have former colonies, including the Atlantic islands, followed soon afterwards. Lisbon ruled its African territories for more than five centuries, not always undisputed by its black and mestizo subjects, but effectively enough to create a lasting Lusitanian tradition. That imprint is indelible and remains engraved in language, social mores and cultural traditions that sometimes have more in common with Europe than with Africa. Today, most of the newspapers in Luanda, Maputo - formerly Lourenco Marques - and Bissau are in Portuguese, as is the language taught in their schools and used by their respective representatives in international bodies to which they all subscribe. ing been embroiled in conflict with the Portuguese for many years in the 1960s and 1970s, he found the local people with whom he came into contact inordinately fond of their erstwhile 'colonial overlords'. As a foreign correspondent, Al Venter covered all three wars over more than a decade, spending lengthy periods in the territories while going on operations with the Portuguese army, marines and air force. In the process, he wrote several books on these conflicts, including a report on the conflict in Portuguese Guinea for the Munger Africana Library of the California Institute of Technology. Portugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa represents an amalgam of these efforts. At the same time, this book is not an official history, but rather a journalist's perspective of military events as viewed by somebody who has made a career of reporting on overseas wars, Africa's especially. Venter's camera was always at hand; most of the images used between these covers are his. His approach is both intrusive and personal and he would like to believe that he has managed to record for posterity a tiny but vital segment of African history.

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545

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Helion and Company

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ISBN 10

1910294306

ISBN 13

9781910294307

Biafra's War 1967-1970

A Tribal Conflict in Nigeria That Left a Million Dead

By: Al J. Venter

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Biafra's War 1967-1970

A Tribal Conflict in Nigeria That Left a Million Dead

By: Al J. Venter

Almost half a century has passed since the Nigerian Civil War ended. But memories die hard, because a million or more people perished in that internecine struggle, the majority women and children, who were starved to death. Biafra’s war was modern Africa’s first extended conflict. It lasted almost three years and was based largely on ethnic, by inference, tribal grounds. It involved, on the one side, a largely Christian or animist southeastern quadrant of Nigeria which called itself Biafra, pitted militarily against the country’s more populous and preponderant Islamic north. These divisions – almost always brutal – persist. Not a week goes by without reports coming in of Christian communities or individuals persecuted by Islamic zealots. It was also a conflict that saw significant Cold War involvement: the Soviets (and Britain) siding and supplying Federal Nigeria with weapons, aircraft and expertise and several Western states – Portugal, South Africa and France especially – providing clandestine help to the rebel state. For that reason alone, this book is an important contribution towards understanding Nigeria’s ethnic divisions, which are no better today than they were then. Biafra was the first of a series of religious wars that threaten to engulf much of Africa. Similar conflicts have recently taken place in the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Southern Sudan, the Central African Republic, Senegal (Cassamance), both Congo Republics and elsewhere. As the war progressed, Biafra also attracted mercenary involvement, many of whom arriving from the Congo which had already seen much turmoil. Western pilots were hired by Lagos and they flew the first Soviet MiG-17 jet fighters to have played an active role in a ‘Western’ war. Al Venter spent time covering this struggle. He left the rebel enclave in December 1969, only weeks before it ended and claims the distinction of being the only foreign correspondent to have been rocketed by both sides: first by Biafra’s tiny Swedish-built Minicon fighter planes while he was on a ship lying at anchor in Warri harbour and thereafter, by MiG jets flown by mercenaries. Among his colleagues inside the beleaguered territory were the celebrated Italian photographer Romano Cagnoni as well as Frederick Forsyth who originally reported for the BBC and then resigned because of the partisan, pro-Nigerian stance taken by Whitehall. He briefly shared quarters with French photographer Giles Caron who was later killed in Cambodia. Prior to that Venter had been working for John Holt in Lagos. It is interesting that his office at the time was at Ikeja International Airport (Murtala Muhammed today) where the second Nigerian army mutiny was plotted and from where it was launched. From this perspective he had a proverbial ‘ringside seat’ of the tribal divisions that followed as hostilities escalated. Venter took numerous photos while on this West African assignment, both in Nigeria while he was based there and later in Biafra itself. Others come from various sources, including some from the same mercenary pilots who originally targeted him from the air.

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337

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Helion and Company

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1912174316

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9781912174317

El Salvador

Dance of the Death Squads, 1980–1992

By: Al J. Venter

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El Salvador

Dance of the Death Squads, 1980–1992

By: Al J. Venter

When the world held its breath It is more than 25 years since the end of the Cold War. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944 long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe with the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Syria, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was El Salvador The twelve-year guerrilla war in El Salvador the smallest country in Central America after Belize was one of the most intense insurgencies fought in the Central and South American region since the end of the Second World War. Backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba, the struggle was initiated on 15 October 1979 largely from Nicaraguan soil by the radical Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or umbrella organization of five socialist and communist guerrilla groups.Fearful of supporting an oppressive regime in San Salvador and media reports of death squads, this drew a quick but muted response from a United States headed by Jimmy Carter and a Democratic majority in Congress. However, once Ronald Reagan was elected into office, through various US intelligence bodies, the CIA especially, significant amounts of military hardware including a variety of the same aircraft and helicopters originally deployed in Vietnam were pumped into the country to counter Soviet efforts to support the rebels. The Salvadorian security forces were eventually molded into an effective counter-guerrilla force that was to force the rebels to the negotiating table.

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181

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Pen and Sword

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ISBN 10

1526708167

ISBN 13

9781526708168

The Last of Africa's Cold War Conflicts

Portuguese Guinea and its Guerilla Insurgency

By: Al J. Venter

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The Last of Africa's Cold War Conflicts

Portuguese Guinea and its Guerilla Insurgency

By: Al J. Venter

This detailed combat history sheds light on the significant yet overlooked guerilla campaigns in what would become Angola and Guinea-Bissou. Portugal was the first European country to colonize Africa. It was also the last to leave, almost five centuries later. During what Lisbon called its “civilizing mission” the Portuguese weathered numerous insurrections, but none as severe as the guerrilla war first launched in Angola in 1961 and two years later in Portuguese Guinea. Both the Soviets and the Cubans believed that because the tiny colony of Guinea had no resources, Lisbon would soon capitulate. But the 11-year struggle became the empire’s most strenuous attempt to retain colonial power. Though it was overshadowed by the conflict in Vietnam, the Soviet-led guerrilla campaign in Portuguese Guinea set the scene for the wars that followed in Rhodesia and present-day Namibia.

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295

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Pen and Sword Military

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152677299X

ISBN 13

9781526772992

Mercenaries

Putting the World to Rights with Hired Guns

By: Al J. Venter

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Mercenaries

Putting the World to Rights with Hired Guns

By: Al J. Venter

An “in-depth [and] well-researched” look at soldiers-for-hire and their role in modern warfare around the globe—includes photos (Portland Book Review). Mercenaries have been a part of warfare for centuries, and in today’s world, these hired guns are an attractive alternative for Western governments reluctant to put their militaries at risk for obscure causes that would otherwise be difficult to explain to their electorates. This book provides a revealing look at modern merc actions in the Middle East and Africa. From brushfire wars in the Congo to outright genocides in Biafra, highly skilled mercenaries were called upon to fight for order—and also for a living. Whether facing fanatics in Somalia or revolutionaries in Rhodesia, staving off cannibals in Sierra Leone or assisting a civil war in Angola, the mercs put their lives on the line for a cause. Many mercenaries freelanced, but under talented freebooting leaders, some groups became crack outfits. South Africa’s Executive Outcomes became a legend in its own time; a quasi-military itself, it dispatched fighters throughout the continent. Like an ad hoc Foreign Legion, fighters came from countries around the world to participate in the combats. In the United States, the publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine organized repeated expeditions from Laos to Peru. In Afghanistan, the renowned helicopter gunship pilot known as Nellis lent his skills after almost singlehandedly defeating gruesome insurgencies in Africa. Now, foreign correspondent Al Venter, who was actively involved in the direction and production of segments of the Discovery Channel series Mercenaries, provides both background about this unique class of warriors and a fascinating look at their methods and actions.

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568

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Casemate Publishers

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ISBN 10

1612002455

ISBN 13

9781612002453

Lebanon

Levantine Calvary, 1958–1990

By: Al J. Venter

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Lebanon

Levantine Calvary, 1958–1990

By: Al J. Venter

When the world held its breath It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europewith the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was the LevantIt is axiomatic that the recent history of much of the Eastern Mediterranean is linked to the creation of the state of Israel in May 1948, incontestably so. The country emerged from a series of conflicts and these have continued intermittently ever since, fuelled as much by ArabIsraeli enmity, national pride and territorial aspirations as hostile neighbours. Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt and in the latter phases, Iran were all part of it. There were rich pickings in the regions for the two great powers of the Cold War as they aligned with one side or the other, the Soviets in full support of Arab interests and the Jewish State enjoying the support of Washington. That combination not only led to several Middle Eastern wars but, as we are able to observe in todays news reports, the knock-on effect continues in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria especially. For much of the period under review it was Lebanon that took the brunt of it, with resident Christian, Sunni, Shiite as well as Israeli interests deploying multiple levels of force much of it clandestine to jockey for predominance. Throughout, land, sea and air forces were involved.Al Venter has devoted a good deal of his career towards covering these developments, from the early 1970s all the way through to the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1991. He has been to war with both Arab and Jew (he was with the IDF strike force headed by Ariel Sharon when he entered Beirut in 1982); spent time in Syria (visited that countrys southern front adjacent to the Golan Heights); been on combat missions with the Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army in the Druze homeland adjacent to Mount Heron and has been embedded with the Lebanese Force Command along Beiruts Green Line, where many of his photos used in this publication were taken. Venter also spent a lot of time in South Lebanon with UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, and was able to observe from up close the growing influence of the Pasdaran, Tehrans surrogate force in the region that eventually spawned Hezhollah. His last visit, in 1997, included contacts while hosted by Lebanese President General mile Lahoud with senior Iranian-supported Hezbollah elements in Beirut, one of few Western correspondents to have achieved this distinction.

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231

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Casemate Publishers

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ISBN 10

1526707845

ISBN 13

9781526707840

Somalia

Unending Turmoil, Since 1975

By: Al J. Venter

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Somalia

Unending Turmoil, Since 1975

By: Al J. Venter

When the world held its breath It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europewith the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was, and is, the Horn of Africa Few countries in Africa have had such powerful links with both the Soviet Union and United States each for several years at a stretch as Somalia. From a quiet Indian Ocean backwater that had once been an Italian colony, it remained aloof from the kind of power struggles that beset countries like Ghana, the Congo, Guinea, Algeria and others in the 1970s. Overnight, that all changed in 1969 when the army, led by Major General Siad Barre, grabbed power. His first move was to abrogate all security links he might have had with the West and to invite Moscow into his country as an ally. The Soviets moved quickly, establishing several air bases in the interior and stationing their ships in Somali ports. Baledogle, a small airport north of Mogadishu, became a major air base from where Soviet military aircraft operated through much of the Indian Ocean. An impetuous man, Siad Barre believed his links with Moscow were secure enough to annex several neighboring regions. But when he invaded Ethiopias Ogaden Province Addis Ababa was then Washingtons staunchest friend in Africas Horn the Soviets had had enough. To the consternation of the West they abandoned Somalia and embraced Ethiopia, which resulted in the Russians giving full support in the Ogaden War to Addis Ababa and establishing the largest airlift of arms to an African country since the Six-Day War.For more than a decade thereafter conditions within Somalia deteriorated. Various tribal leaders established themselves as war lords, some with Soviet support, others getting succor from Western sources. It got so bad that in 1992 the United Nations eventually stepped in with Operation Restore Hope, a multinational force created for conducting humanitarian operations in Somalia. The move was always controversial with many tribal leaders retaining either clandestine Soviet links or receiving aid from radical Arab forces that included al-Qaeda. Though the United Nations and the African Union (AU) both maintain a strong presence in the country, hostilities and killings go on.

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180

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Casemate Publishers

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ISBN 10

1526707969

ISBN 13

9781526707963

Takka Takka Bom Bom

An Intrepid War Correspondent's 50 Year Odyssey

By: Al J. Venter

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Takka Takka Bom Bom

An Intrepid War Correspondent's 50 Year Odyssey

By: Al J. Venter

The world’s oldest still-active war correspondent, Al J. Venter, has reported from the front lines for well over half a century, witnessing the horrors humanity visits upon itself in twenty-five conflict zones across Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. In this memoir, Venter masterfully recounts his experiences, sharing the real stories behind the headlines and the sharp lessons he learned that enabled him to survive his countless exploits, ranging from exposing a major KGB operative in Rhodesia entirely by accident, and accompanying an Israeli force led by Ariel Sharon into Beirut, to gun-running into the United States.

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441

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Casemate

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ISBN 10

1636243819

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9781636243818

Gunship Ace

The Wars of Neall Ellis, Gunship Pilot and Mercenary

By: Al J. Venter

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Gunship Ace

The Wars of Neall Ellis, Gunship Pilot and Mercenary

By: Al J. Venter

“Spotlights the career of a fascinating modern warrior, while also shedding light on some of the conflicts that have raged throughout the world” (Tucson Citizen). A former South African Air Force pilot who saw action throughout the region from the 1970s on, Neall Ellis is the best-known mercenary combat aviator alive. Apart from flying Alouette helicopter gunships in Angola, he fought in the Balkan war for the Islamic forces, tried to resuscitate Mobutu’s ailing air force during his final days ruling the Congo, flew Mi-8s for Executive Outcomes, and piloted an Mi-8 fondly dubbed “Bokkie” for Colonel Tim Spicer in Sierra Leone. Finally, with a pair of aging Mi-24 Hinds, Ellis ran the Air Wing out of Aberdeen Barracks in the war against Sankoh’s vicious RUF rebels. As a “civilian contractor,” Ellis has also flown helicopter support missions in Afghanistan, where, he reckons, he had more close shaves than in his entire previous four decades. From single-handedly turning the enemy back from the gates of Freetown to helping rescue eleven British soldiers who’d been taken hostage, Ellis’s many missions earned him a price on his head, with reports of a million-dollar dead-or-alive reward. This book describes the full career of this storied aerial warrior, from the bush and jungles of Africa to the forests of the Balkans and the merciless mountains of Afghanistan. Along the way the reader encounters a multiethnic array of enemies ranging from ideological to cold-blooded to pure evil, as well as examples of incredible heroism for hire.

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563

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Casemate

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ISBN 10

1612000827

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9781612000824

Battle For Angola

The End of the Cold War in Africa c 1975-89

By: Al J. Venter

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Battle For Angola

The End of the Cold War in Africa c 1975-89

By: Al J. Venter

Following the publication of Al Venter’s successful Portugal’s Guerrilla Wars in Africa - shortlisted by the New York Military Affairs Symposium’s 'Arthur Goodzeit Book Award for 2013' - his Battle for Angola delves still further into the troubled history of this former Portuguese African colony. This is a completely fresh work running to almost 600 pages including 32 pages of color photos, with the main thrust on events before and after the civil war that followed Lisbon’s over-hasty departure back to the metrópole. There are also several sections that detail the role of South African mercenaries in defeating the rebel leader Dr Jonas Savimbi (considered by some as the most accomplished guerrilla leader to emerge in Africa in the past century). There are many chapters that deal with Pretoria’s reaction to the deteriorating political and military situation in Angola, the role of the Soviets and mercenaries in the political transition, as well as the civil war that followed. With the assistance of several notable military authorities he elaborates in considerable detail on South Africa’s 23-year Border War, from the first guerrilla incursions to the last. In this regard he received solid help from the former the head of 4 Reconnaissance Regiment, Colonel Douw Steyn, who details several cross-border Recce strikes, including the sinking by frogmen of two Soviet ships and a Cuban freighter in an Angolan deepwater port. Throughout, the author was helped by a variety of notable authorities, including the French historian Dr René Pélissier and the American academic and former naval aviator Dr John (Jack) Cann. With their assistance, he covers several ancillary uprisings and invasions, including the Herero revolt of the early 20th century; the equally troubled Ovambo insurrection, as well as the invasion of Angola by the Imperial German Army in the First World War. Former deputy head of the South African Army Major General Roland de Vries played a seminal role. It was he - dubbed ‘South Africa’s Rommel’ by his fellow commanders - who successfully nurtured the concept of ‘mobile warfare’ where, in a succession of armored onslaughts ‘thin-skinned’ Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicles tackled Soviet main battle tanks and thrashed them. There is a major section on South African Airborne – the ‘Parabats’ –by Brigadier-General McGill Alexander, one of the architects of that kind of warfare under Third World conditions. Finally, the role of Cuban Revolutionary Army receives the attention it deserves: officially there were almost 50,000 Cuban troops deployed in the Angolan war, though subsequent disclosures in Havana suggest that the final total was much higher.

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562

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Helion and Company

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ISBN 10

191311810X

ISBN 13

9781913118105

Iran's Nuclear Option

Tehran's Quest for the Atom Bomb

By: Al J. Venter

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Iran's Nuclear Option

Tehran's Quest for the Atom Bomb

By: Al J. Venter

“The most systematic exposition to date about Iran’s nuclear program and its role in world affairs” (Middle East Quarterly). Since the Islamic Republic of Iran admitted that it was secretly producing highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium, nations have struggled to react appropriately. For the first time, and in full detail, this book explains exactly what the Europeans and United Nations have been trying to forestall. Iran could shortly have the ability to strike its immediate Middle Eastern neighbors—and more distant nations—with nuclear weapons. With the size to dominate its region, Iran also has an avowed mission to export its theocratic principles, and in recent decades, has been a notorious supporter of terrorist organizations. Its parallel development of atomic bombs represents the greatest threat to the balance of world power we’ve seen in the new millennium. Here, defense expert Al Venter reveals the extent to which Iran’s weapons program has developed and the clandestine manner in which its nuclear technology has been acquired. He demonstrates how Tehran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and details the involvement of several countries shown by the IAEA to have trafficked in illegal nuclear materials. He proves, for the first time, a direct link between the now-defunct South African apartheid regime’s nuclear program and Tehran’s current nuclear ambitions. Venter digs deep into subjects such as Iran’s fervor on behalf of Shiite Islam, its missile program—developed alongside its nuclear one—and the role of the Pasdaran, the Revolutionary Guards, whose tentacles have spread throughout the Middle East and increasingly farther afield. While noting Tehran’s support of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Venter follows closely how the Persian homeland itself has progressed toward a strategic nuclear capability that would make recent terrorist attacks look obsolete. Iran’s Nuclear Option is essential reading for anyone with an interest in global security, the perilous volatility of the Middle East, and America’s options, should it be willing and able to counter the threat while time remains.

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482

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Casemate

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ISBN 10

161200086X

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9781612000862

Barrel of a Gun

A War Correspondent's Misspent Moments in Combat

By: Al J. Venter

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Barrel of a Gun

A War Correspondent's Misspent Moments in Combat

By: Al J. Venter

A colorful, wide-ranging memoir of danger and adventure in wars around the world. Anybody who says that the pen is mightier than the sword hasn’t spent time in Somalia . . . So begins this memoir of a career spent examining warfare—on the ground and as the bullets are flying. While many are intrigued by these violent conflicts, Al Venter feels compelled to see them in person, preferably at the center of the action. Born in South Africa, Venter has found no shortage of horrific battles on his own continent, from Rhodesia to Biafra and Angola to Somalia. He has ridden with the legendary mercenary group Executive Outcomes; jumped into combat with South Africa’s crack Parachute Regiment, the Parabats; and traipsed through jungles with both guerrillas and national troops. During Sierra Leone’s civil war, he flew in the government’s lone Mi-24 helicopter gunship as it blasted apart rebel villages and convoys, complaining that the Soviet-made craft leaked when it rained. In the Mideast, he went into Lebanon with the Israeli army as it encountered resistance from multiple militant groups, including the newly formed Hezbollah. Curious about the other side of the hill, he joined up with General Aoun’s Christian militias while that conflict was at its height. Touching down in Croatia during the Balkan wars, and in Congo during their perpetual one, as well as the Uganda of Idi Amin, Venter never lost his lust for action, even as he sometimes had to put down his camera or notebook to pick up an AK-47. In his journeys, Venter associated with an array of similarly daring soldiers and journalists, from “Mad Mike” Hoare to Danny Pearl, as well as elite soldiers from around the world, many of whom, he sadly relates, never emerged from the war zones they entered. A renowned journalist and documentarian who has worked with the BBC, PBS, Jane’s, and other outlets, Al Venter here offers the reader his own personal experiences with combat.

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505

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Casemate

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ISBN 10

1612000320

ISBN 13

9781612000329

Angolan War of Liberation

Colonial–Communist Clash, 1961–1974

By: Al J. Venter

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Angolan War of Liberation

Colonial–Communist Clash, 1961–1974

By: Al J. Venter

When a large group of rebels invaded Angola from a recently independent Congo in 1961, it heralded the opening shots in another African war of independence. Between 1961 and 1974, Portugal faced the extremely ambitious task of conducting three simultaneous counterinsurgency campaigns to preserve its hegemony of Angola, Portuguese Guinea and Mozambique. While other European states were falling over themselves in granting independence to their African possessions, Portugal chose to stay and fight despite the odds against success.That it did so successfully for thirteen years in a distant multi-fronted war remains a remarkable achievement, particularly for a nation of such modest resources. For example, in Angola the Portuguese had a tiny air force of possibly a dozen transport planes, a squadron or two of F-86s and perhaps twenty helicopters: and that in a remote African country twice the size of Texas. Portugal proved that such a war can be won. In Angola victory was complete.However, the political leadership proved weak and irresolute, and this encouraged communist elements within the military to stage a coup in April 1974 and lead a capitulation to the insurgent movements, squandering the hard-won military and social gains and abandoning Portugals African citizens to generations of civil war and destitution.

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204

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Casemate Publishers

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ISBN 10

1526728427

ISBN 13

9781526728425

Biafra Genocide

Nigeria: Bloodletting and Mass Starvation, 1967–1970

By: Al J. Venter

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Biafra Genocide

Nigeria: Bloodletting and Mass Starvation, 1967–1970

By: Al J. Venter

One of the great tragedies of Africa is not only the fact that a million people mostly civilians and a large proportion of them children died in one of Africas first post-independence wars, but that until it happened the world thought Nigeria was immune from the wasting disease of tribalism. It certainly was not because the Biafran War is still the most expansive tribal conflagration that the continent has experienced barring perhaps the ongoing Great Lakes conflict involving the forces of East and West, only this time, with the British siding with the Soviets.Worse, some of the religious differences that emerged before and after that dreadful carnage are still with us today. During the course of hostilities that lasted almost four years, a lot of other shortcomings surfaced in Africas most populous nation, including the kind of corruption that, until then, had always been linked to countries rich in oil. Disunity, incompetence and instability from which Nigeria never really recovered also emerged. Two bloody army coups followed after the rebels capitulated, together with an appalling series of massacres, mostly of southern Christians by Muslim northerners. Half a century later the slaughter continues.

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210

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Casemate Publishers

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ISBN 10

1526729148

ISBN 13

9781526729149

Portugal's Bush War in Mozambique

By: Al J. Venter

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Portugal's Bush War in Mozambique

By: Al J. Venter

A new account of how Portugal fought a bush war in Mozambique for over a decade. Portugal fought a bush war in Mozambique — one of the most beautiful countries in the world — for over a decade. The small European nation was ranged against formidable odds and in the end was unable to muster the resources required to effectively take on the might of the Soviet Union and its collaborators—every single communist country on the planet and almost all of Black Africa. Yet, Al Venter argues, Portugal did not actually lose the war, and indeed fought in difficult terrain with a good degree of success over an extended period. It was radical domestic politics that heralded the end. Mozambique is once again embroiled in a guerrilla war, this time against a large force of Islamic militants, many from Somalia and some Arab countries, and unequivocally backed by Islamic State and the lessons of Mozambique’s bush war are still relevant today.

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289

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Casemate

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ISBN 10

1612009379

ISBN 13

9781612009377

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

Shadow of Terror over The Sahel, from 2007

By: Al J. Venter

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Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

Shadow of Terror over The Sahel, from 2007

By: Al J. Venter

Insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere the majority linked to al Qaeda are in the news on an almost daily basis. But very little surfaces about a festering insurgency that has been on the go for six years in West Africa under the acronym of AQIM, or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. This low-level series of guerrilla conflicts is widespread and sporadic, covering an area as vast as Europe. Nigeria has been drawn into the equation because its Boko Haram insurgent faction maintains close ties with AQIM and Islamic State.For now though, the focus is on Mali where several jihadist groups despite formal peace agreements remain active. Involved is the French army and air force as well as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) as well as the European Union Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP).The insurrection that fostered all this broke out early 2012 when President Franois Hollande announced the beginning of Operation Serval. Five hours later the first squadrons of French Gazelle helicopter gunships began attacking Islamist columns. A day later French fighter jets based in Chad, almost 2,000 kilometers away, were making sorties against rebel ground targets in northern Mali.

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181

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Pen and Sword

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1526728745

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9781526728746

War Dog

Fighting Other People's Wars: The Modern Mercenary in Combat

By: Al J. Venter

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War Dog

Fighting Other People's Wars: The Modern Mercenary in Combat

By: Al J. Venter

Mercenaries have been with us since the dawn of civilization, yet in the modern world they are little understood. While many of today’s freelance fighters provide support for larger military establishments, others wage war where the great powers refuse to tread. In War Dog, Al Venter examines the latter world of mercenary fighters effecting decisions by themselves. In the process he unveils a remarkable array of close-quarters combat action. Having personally visited every locale he describes throughout Africa and the Middle East, Venter is the rare correspondent who had to carry an AK-47 in his research along with his notebook and camera. To him, covering mercenary actions meant accompanying the men into the thick of combat. During Sierra Leone’s civil war, he flew in the front bubble of the government’s lone Hind gunship—piloted by the heroic chopper ace “Nellis”—as it flew daily missions to blast apart rebel positions. In this book the author not only describes the battles of the legendary South African mercenary company Executive Outcomes, he knew the founders personally and joined them on a number of actions. After stemming the tide of Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA army in Angola (an outfit many of the SA operators had previously trained), Executive Outcomes headed north to hold back vicious rebels in West Africa. This book is not only about triumph against adversity but also losses, as Venter relates the death and subsequent cannibalistic fate of his American friend, Bob MacKenzie, in Sierra Leone. Here we see the plight of thousands of civilians fleeing from homicidal jungle warriors, as well as the professionalism of the mercenaries who fought back with one hand and attempted to train government troops with the other, in hopes that they would someday be able to stand on their own. The American public, as well as its military, largely sidestepped the horrific conflicts that embroiled Africa during the past two decades. But as Venter informs us, there were indeed small numbers of professional fighters on the ground, defending civilians and attempting to conjure order from chaos. In the process their heroism went unrecorded and their combat skill became known only to each other. In this book we gain an intimate glimpse of this modern breed of warrior in combat. Not laden with medals, ribbons, civic parades, or even guaranteed income, they have nevertheless fought some of the toughest battles in the post- Cold War era. They simply are, and perhaps always will be, “War Dogs.” AL J. VENTER has been an international war correspondent for nearly thirty years, primarily for the Jane’s Information Group. He has also produced documentary television films on subjects from the wars in Africa and Afghanistan to sharkhunting off the Cape of Good Hope. Among his previous works are The Iraqi War Debrief: Why Saddam Hussein Was Toppled and Iran’s Nuclear Option: Tehran’s Quest for the Atomic Bomb. A native of South Africa, he is currently resident in the United Kingdom.

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