One of several images distributed on social media purportedly showing South African contractors in armoured vehicles in Nigeria. Photograph: Twitter
The Guardian: South Africa's ageing white mercenaries who helped turn tide on Boko Haram
Battle-hardened soldiers, many of them paramilitary leftovers of the apartheid regime, have pursued private wars simply to put bread on the table
Leon Lotz was once a member of the Koevoet – “crowbar” in Afrikaans – a paramilitary police unit created by South Africa’s apartheid regime to root out guerrillas in what is now Namibia. Thirty years later, something persuaded him to take up arms again in a foreign country. He was killed in March, apparently by friendly fire from a tank in northern Nigeria. Among the most striking facts about Lotz was his age: 59.
A wealth of media reports, witness accounts and photos on social media suggest that he is not the only white mercenary who helped turn the tide against the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in recent weeks, allowing Nigeria to hold a relatively peaceful election. Whether as technical advisers or frontline combatants, some are said to have come from the former Soviet Union but about 300 are reportedly from South Africa and nearing retirement age.
WNU Editor: At their age they should be relaxing at a golf course instead of being in the middle of a war zone .... but I guess it is a money thing, coupled with a life time of being (and wanting to be) a soldier.
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