Rhode Island College Digital Commons @ RIC

Faculty Publications

1978 American Mercenaries in Richard A. Lobban Rhode Island College, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/facultypublications Part of the Anthropology Commons

Citation Lobban, Richard. "American Mercenaries in Rhodesia." Journal of Southern Africa Affairs, III (3): 319-325

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ RIC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ RIC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AMERICAN MERCENARIES IN RHODESIA by Ríchard Lobbøn Reseørch in Africøn Literøtures lryn.r foreign nationals with military skills are hired by another nation to lJoru ø tri-quørterly publicølion fight its own wars the term "mercenaries" is most often used. Mercenaries are also connoted in the expression of "soldier of fortune" or "adventurer" insofar as the Bernth Lindfors, Editor decision to serve in another nation's armed service has been taken for personal Seth Associate Dan Ben-Amos & Wolitz. Editors monetary reward or for less than noble aspirations. Mercenaries have been featured prominently in the southern Sudan, Biafra, Oman, Zaíre, Angola, and journal, devoted the research reports, conference This fine to and elsewhere in recent years. The assistance ofmercenaries is necessitated when a local literature and folklo¡e of Africa, is dissertation listings, tale type and authority can find neither the iocal manpower nor the mass support for carrying now published three times a year: index for each volume. Spring, Fali, & Winter. out military operations. Consequently, mercenaries are very frequently associated It features illustrations by African with supporting regimes which are politically isolated within their own national artists and articles, in bcth English (Circle subscription raie below.) bo¡ders. and French, by widely known writers Rates (U.S.A.) 1yr. In rather well docurnented literaturet the United States' Central Intelligence 72.oo on Africa including Wole Soyinka, Individuals Agency hired significant numbers of American and British nationals, to mention Ezekiel Mphahlele, Taban lo Liyong, Institutions 27.OO only the most important, to fight against the victorious Popular Albert Gerard, Gerald Moore, Other countries, except Canada, add Movement for the Liberation Angola. happens pattern Janheinz Jahn, and Aian Paton. $2.00 to each year's subscription. of It that a similar of recruitment is now Additional sections: book reviews, Please pay in U.S. currency. underway in Rhodesia although this has not ieceived much attention in the Western press. It shouid not be surprising that the recruitment is underground as the United States Federal Code, Title 18, Secrions 958, 959, and 960 expressly Name prohibit recruitment and enlistment of American citizens in foreign armed forces. Various fìnes and periods of imprisonment are proscribed by these three sections Add¡ess of the Code. In attempting to ascertain the official American foreign policy on this City matter, the following letter, to Senator Pell of the Foreign Relations Committee, is State Ex Zip most informative: Country April 28, 1977 Mail with payment to: Dear Senator Pell: Texas Press, Box 7819, Austin,TX 78772 RAL, University of I am writing in response to your letter of April 5 in which you requested info¡mation about a report reaching you of the presence of 320 Richard Lobban ï i Amerícan Mercenaries in Rhodesia 321 some 400 American mercenaries serving in the army of the illegal regime of Southern i'' Rhodesia. Rhodesian chrome but srill has significant banking links, ties in the major energy You are no doubt awa¡e that any Americans serving in the Rhodesian industries, hotels, and car rentals, not to mention the military aircraft fo¡ces are not on assignment from the u.s. armed forces. The united manufactured under American license but exported from France and Italy.: States is providing no support whatever to the white minority regime in Indeed, it should be clear that the question of mercenaries is only a portion of the Rhodesia. on the contrary, \rye are strictry enforcing unitea ñations covert western aid for settler colonialism and white supremacy sanctions against that ¡egime, and for many months have been engaged despite the excellent cosmetic job done president in an intensive dipromatic effort to promote a peaceful settlem"nt th.." by Jimmy carter and by Ambassador based on majority rule. We have of course seen press reports ofseve¡al Andrew Young. hund¡ed American mercenaries in Rhodesia, but do not have Despite moderately high pay, the lot of the mercenary is not really very good, information to substantiate them. apart from the chance of meeting one's death in a foreign battlefield. If one might Under U.S. law, it is a criminal offense fo¡ any person within the identify the typical mercenary from the united states, he (there are no reports of united states to recruit a u.s. citizen for service as a soldier in foreign women) would likely be an unemployed vietnam veteran with combat armed forces, or for a U.S. citizen to enlist within the U.S. for suãh experience in counter-insurgency, service. It is our practice to make this law known in order to discourage but frequently with personal or emotional problems which possible have violation of it. In the event that there is evidence thar su;h made life in the united states difficult. It is not uncommon to find a political recruitment is taking place within the United States, the U.S. orientation which is ultra-right, with aspects ofracial paranoia rather frequent. For Government will move vigorously to investigate, and where the American mercenaries in Angola there was also the problem of not being paid, the evidence is adequate, to prosecute. Whenever reports of possible possibility of desertion, some chance of execution by fellow mercenaries, recruitment come to the attention of the Department of srate, we refer and in them to the Department of Justice for investigation. some other instances capture and execution by the purported enemy. Sincerely, Mercenary recruitment has been openly carried out in a half dozen American Douglas J. Bennet, Jr. magazines including shotgun News, Gun week, sports Afíetd, shootíng Times, Assistant Secretary for and Guns Magazine.a But it is also common to learn about serving in Rhodesia Congressional Relations through individually addressed letters or through word-of-mouth. Recruitment is To the best of my knowledge there is not a single case of any American having most often for the Rhodesian (RLI) but may also include service in been prosecuted under this code for having served anywhere in post-colonial the Rhodesian police, the Special Air service, or in an elite group, presumably Africa even though thousands of Americans have served in capacities which are.in something like the infamous .s other recruitment has clear violation of the Federal law. been done directly through the United States military, albeit unofficial and fiercely In Rhodesia the greatest number of mercenaries is from the united Kingdom, denied. Examples of this may be seen with the "phoenix Associates', recruitment of but the second largest number comes from the united States. During the Angolan uS Marines at Quantico, virginiae and with the chairman of the Department of Military recruitment, it appears that the cIA provided at least $20 million dollars for the Science at the University of California at Berkeley.r recruitment of British mercenaries2 and it wouid not be unreasonable to presume If any serious investigations have taken place there have yet to be any prosecutions that similar financing is continuing since there has been no formal curtailment of of either recruiters or of those who have been publicly identified as mercenaries. such financing. In the Rhodesian recruitment drive other nationalities are also shotgun ly'ews suggests that one contact Frank Abbott Sweeney in represented such as: spanish, Australian, canadian, portuguese, South Africans, Tenafly, New Jersey if one would like to serve in the Rhodesian Light Infantry as he did for years.8 Germans, Greeks, Dutch, French, and Swedish. Even one mercenary has been three The columbia Broadcasting system featured an interview with reported from Sri Lanka. For this essay the focus will be only on American an American mercenary on the evening news onJury 22,1976 but nothinghas come mercenaries in Rhodesia with the understanding that the pattern and presumably of this either.s An organization known as "Anubis Ltd.' of Highlands, Texas has the funding of the mercenaries are effectively parallel, that is, the para-legal published advertisement s in shotgun ly'ews but with no known prosecutions; r0 ¿¡d Frank Renzi "intelligence" organizations ofthe Western capitalist nations are backing this effort of Long Beach, california has placed recruitment ads in shooting to sustain the white minority regime of which would have collapsed long Times and sports Afield.lr In another case, former u.S. Major ago without this foreign assistance. This essay will also overlook the considerable Robert K. Brown of Arvada, colorado organized his own recruitment organization number of ways that united Nations sanctions are violated by these same nations including a glossy magazine called "soldier of Fortune', (ajournal for professional even the united states which just recently returned to the ban against adventurers) in which he gave a recruitment contact in Salisbury, - - Rhodesia.¡2 Amerícan Mercenaries in Rhodesia 322 Richard Lobban 323

For those who actualry reach revealed in testirnony in the U.S. House of Representatives)27 Rhodesia the typical case would be an arrivar had been given a on a special assignment tourist visa in salisburyrr where one seeks Rhodesian to spy on the cubans at their Embassy in Montreal. This Major Nict Lamp.ectrt,o a1 the King George vI Barracks unusual task emerged because it was believed by the that which is the central recruiting office. In order to cover cIA the cubans were seeking to train the mercenary stigma, American recruits may be termed ..volunteers,, some mercenaries to infiltrate the Rhodesian military. one of or jobs "emigrants" which is ironic in Bufkin's was to eavesdrop on the cubans and break this possible a nation which now has a net out-migration. The rate network. of pay is determined on the Those who had been recruited by the cubans were reported to have basis of experience and former rank in the united States deserted to military; wages have been .z8 Is it possible that Meyers was a cuban recruit, reported as low as $g00 a monthr5 to $3,000 a monthr' or was it perhaps the for group of three piper high ranking officers. American mercenaries that stole a cherokee plane from the In the summer Salisbury Prince charles Airport in February rg77?2s rwo these of l9i5 the first known American mercenary was killed in action of three deserters in Rhodesia were in the Rhodesian Light-Infantry while the other had as a member of the Rhodesian Light Infantry. John coey of Hideaway served in the Rhodesian Hills, ohio had originally joined air cavalry unit. In any case, Meyers has testified that Lt. col. Monte Bulland the Speciar Air Services in March 1972 and for at the official purposes said university of california had recruited him with the promise that there would he had emigrated to Rhodesia but then was drafted. The be no state Department ..we problem to go to Rhodesia with the "help from friends in washington.,'Bulland, responded to this situation by saying can discourage them but can't prohibit who served as an intelligence officer in political warfare, them"rT even though Americans had long been prohibitJo t o- has denied Mevers visiting charges.3o cuba, vietnam, North Korea, and other countries. Two other Americans, This sort of intrigue notwithstanding, the Joe Belisario and craig Acheson, were arrested in neighboring Botswana recruitment effort continues. An allegedry ..high on a mission for the Rhodesian advertisement in the Fresno (catifornia) Bee describes risk" military secret police. Both of these men were leaders in the work in hysterical ..veterans Africa, although this might be recruitment for southern Zaire anti-communist formation known as and volunteers for as well as for Vietnam."ts R.hodesia.3r Another death was that of George william clarke, 2g, of Lemon By July 1976 Grove, california on May 15, 1977. clarke was the second American some news reports suggested that only a few dozen Americans were officially serving reported killed in actionin Rhodesia. ThisformerUs in the Rhodesian military or police.re However a BBC program indicated Marineand vietnarnveteran that percent was given full R.hodesian military honors and his coffin was 80 of the newest recruits were foreigners and were mostly British, carried by eight other American, US citizens serving in the R.hodesian Light-Infantry.rz German, and South African. The BBC program suggested that there was In September 1977 , the American, s. Drevitts, 25, was reported an international recruitment network. Rhodesian Major Nick Lamprecht as a deserter and he claimed that many others denied this claim.2' By the end 1976 had already left "because they do not want to die for a of Robin wright, a free-lance journalist '!,977 futile cause."¡: November saw the return of Keith Nelson, covering southern Africa, said that there were 400 Americans already enlisted 26, a vietnam, and special that applications Forces veteran from Sycamore, Illinois. Nelson had lost both ofhis legs on and inquiries were increasing daily. A Major from Texas said that joined military patrol in June 1977 in Rhodesia.¡¿ The same article which most had in the previous six months,2r a period when the Rhodesian military described -the Nelson's mishap also noted a Major Mike williams, situation worsened drastically. London sunday Times 52, of san Antonio, Texas estimated that the total who mercenary force reached was once a Special Forces captain in vietnam and had served in the u.s. had 800 and that there were five applications each day.z2 Army for 12years. During 1977 Majorwilliams was the commanding officer A larger estimate appeared in the African press which counted 1,400 mercenaries, of the Rhodesian Grey Scouts, an elite horse-mounted infantry unit representing a significant portion of the entire Rhodesian troop strength which specialized in and counter-insurgency activities. including soldiers from New york and Tucson, Arizona.23 on an Arnerican speaking tour Neison,s engagements were arranged Even by the staunch anti-cornrnunist American security though a recruitment program was activery underway, the attacks by the council. Nelson said that he went to Rhodesia because he loved military adventure liberation movements were having a very demoralizing effect on some of these and that he had participated on raids into neighboring .:s soldiers of fortune. For example, Lawrence Meyers deserted to Gaberone, with such Botswana open and public documentation as can be gleaned from the national saying that the nationalists will win in Rhodesia.z¿ After a little more and international press one wonders how the Department than a ¡nonth Meyers was deportedzs and of state and the returned to the united states.26 Although ..prosecute" Department of Justice have failed to investigate "vigorously,' and men the FBI is reported to have begun an investigation, Meyers has been granted immunity who are openly violating u.S. law. one is forced to conclude that the presence of from prosecution. since Meyers has admitted that he served as a American mercenaries in Rhodesia is simply an unacknowledged mercenary in violation of u.s. law this may portion of the be odd, but another explanation is American possible. foreign policy for that nation. It seems that David Bufkin, a known mercenary recruiter of the cIA (as T 324 Richard Lobban American Mercenaries in Rhodesia 325

FOOTNOTES 31. Christian Science Monítor,May 1977. 1. A.H. Thobhani, Mercenary "The Menace,, A,frica Today 23 (1976), pp. ól{g. 32. UPI, May 26, 1977.

2. lVashington Post, Febrvry l, 1976. 33. Times of , September 8, 1977. 3. M.T. Klare, 'u.S. Arms Deriveries to south poricy Africa," Institute for Studies 34. Providence Sunday Journal, November 20, 1977 (February 1977).

35. Chicago Daily News, December 8, 1977. 4. David Anable, "The Return of the Mercenaries," Afríca Report 20 (1975), pp. 2_6.

5. Thobhani, op. cit., p. 65.

6. New York Times, Jtne22,1975.

7. Guardian (U.K.), March ll, 1977 .

8. Anable, op. cit., p.2.

9. Thobhani, op. cit., p.66.

10. Anable, op. cit., p.4. t1. Ibid.

12. Anable, op. cit., p.5. 13. Daily News (lanzania), December 21,1976. Human Rightsandthe 14. International Herald Tribune, J,tly 23,1976. SouthÆrican 15. The Guardían (U.K.), March 11, 1977 . Legal Oder JOHN DUGARD 16. The Sun, Júy 18,1976.

17. An¿ble, op. cit., p. 5. "..., A mo-st impressive analysis of the South African legal system. His critique of legal pos¡tivism should be of great interest to l-egal scholars 18. Anable, op. cit., pp.5-6. as well as to students of South African affa¡rs. I recommeñd it most strongly." Leonard Thompson, yate lJniversity 19. The Sun, July 18,1976. - As an Advocate of the supreme court, 20. Zambia Daily Maí|, July 20, 1976; Intemational Herald Tribune, July 23,1976. John Dugard observes the south African legal order daily in operation. Here he provides a thorough description and probing analy:sis 21. Intemational Herald Tribune, December 10,1976. of the workings of the system and considers south África's laws in the light of iis históry. politics, and culture. Placing the legal order in a comparative context, ñe examines the 22. London Sunday Times (U.K.), November 28, 1976. climate of legal opinion, crucial ludicial decisions, and their significance in relatron to contemporary thoughl and pract¡ce in England, America, and elsewhere. 23. Daily News (Tanzania), December 21, 1976. Cloth. $27.50. Limited Paperback Ed¡tion; 912.50

24. Intemational Herald Tríbune, January 10,1977. 25. The Star ll'eekly (South Africa), February 12,1977. Princeton University Press 26. The Guardian (U.K.), March 11, 1977. Princeton, New Jersey 08540

27 . Intemational Herald Tribune, Jantary 12, 1977 .

28. New York Times, January 11,1977.

29. Tímes ofZambia, February 20,1977.

30. The Guardian (U.K.), March 11, 1977.