Nigeria has hired about 250 mercenaries from South Africa to help in its war against Boko Haram insurgents, a Turkish news agency has reported, quoting military sources.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently gave a December deadline to the military to end the insurgency in the north-east.
Anadolu Agency reports that the mercenaries were recruited from South Africa-based private contractor, Specialized Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection (STTEP), which also helped the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan in its push against the insurgents early 2015.
Although the Jonathan administration denied engaging them, Eeben Barlow, a retired colonel who heads STTEP, confirmed that his group of “bush warfare experts” were recruited in “top secrecy” in January to train an elite strike group within the Nigerian army.
Anadolu quoted a source as saying the “mercenaries have been reengaged and their platforms are being deployed… By platforms, I mean fighter jets, helos [helicopters], coms [communication], surveillance, medics, etc”.
They are being deployed along with fighter jets in Operation Fire Force, the source said.
STTEP includes veterans from the South African apartheid era who will work with and train a Nigerian strike force, according to the source.
Another army source confirmed the development to Anadolu.
“There is definitely something happening in that direction,” he was quoted as revealing.
According to STTEP’s official website, the company’s trainers and advisers are drawn from “conventional, clandestine, and covert units of the pre-1994 South African Defense Force”.
It claims to have a proven track record of success in Africa, the middle east, the far east and central and south America.
Buhari described the use of mercenaries to fight Boko Haram as “shameful” during the 2015 electioneering, saying it represented the depth of weakness of the Nigerian army.
But a defence headquarters source told the news agency that the mercenary option appeared to be the “most practical” one to contain the insurgency.
After successes recorded by the government before the 2015 elections, the insurgents have been on the rebound, killing as many as 1,500 people between June and October.
According to the army source, the Buhari administration initially terminated the mercenary contract because it was “opaque and without accountability” but said a new agreement was reached to boost the counterinsurgency operation.
“As it stands now, huge amounts of monies are owed to the contractors as fulfillment for the previous engagement,” the source added.
“So they are starting a new engagement for an initial period of three months. As for their outstanding balances, investigations are being carried out to ensure everything is above board.”
The Nigerian military did not respond to Anadolu Agency’s request for comment.
However, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu denied the government was engaging mercenaries again.
“It is true that the previous administration hired South African mercenaries to fight Boko Haram,” he said.
“They, however, left with the government that brought them. Since coming into office, this government did not have any engagement with mercenaries of any kind and there are no plans to do so.”
Siphiwe Dlamini, a spokesman for the South African National Defense Force (SANDF), told Anadolu his country did not have any troops in Nigeria but could not say if private mercenaries were operating there.
“I wish to reiterate there are no SANDF personnel in Nigeria fighting Boko Haram,” he told Anadolu.
“If there are South Africans who are there as you allege they are not our members but private citizens. I cannot comment on what private citizens are doing in any part of the world.”
STTEP did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
Earlier this year, South Africa’s Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula issued a stern warning to South African mercenaries, saying they had no business in Nigeria and should be arrested on their return.
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