X-Nico

8 unusual facts about Bob Denard


Ali Mroudjaé

Mroudjae became foreign minister after the coup by Bob Denard brought Ahmed Abdallah to power in 1978.

Azali Assoumani

On his return to Comoros, he joined the FAC (then overseen by Bob Denard's European mercenaries.

Émile Derlin Zinsou

On 16 January 1977 an attempted coup d'état took place in Benin with a group of armed men led by renowned French mercenary "Colonel" Bob Denard took place in Benin.

In his autobiography, Bob Denard has mentioned that Emile Derlin Zinsou was to be reinstated in power in the aftermath of the coup, and that he was in fact waiting on board the mercenaries' plane that fled the country when the coup attempt failed.

Jean-Yves Ollivier

In 1989, Jean-Yves Ollivier began a mediation process in Comoros following French mercenary Bob Denard’s coup de force on the islands.

John Stockwell

Beginning his career in 1964, Stockwell spent six years in Africa, Chief of Base in the Katanga during the Bob Denard invasion in 1968, then Chief of Station in Bujumbura, Burundi in 1970, before being transferred to Vietnam to oversee intelligence operations in the Tay Ninh province and was awarded the CIA Medal of Merit for keeping his post open until the last days of the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Said Mohamed Djohar

Born in Majunga, Madagascar, Djohar was the half brother of socialist Comorian president Ali Soilih, who had been brought to power in a coup d'état organised by Bob Denard.

Samantha Weinberg

In 1994 Weinberg wrote Last of the Pirates: in search of Bob Denard (ISBN 0224033077) about French mercenary Bob Denard.



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