Thiza:
Johannesburg/Dakar - Nigeria has brought in hundreds of mercenaries from South Africa and the former Soviet Union to give its offensive against Boko Haram a shot in the arm before a 28 March election, according to regional security, defence and diplomatic sources.
Rumours about the use of foreign "soldiers of fortune" against the Islamist militant group gained substance this month when pictures surfaced on Twitter showing armoured vehicles rumbling along a street in what was said to be Maiduguri, the regional capital of Nigeria's Boko Haram-hit northeast.
In one photo that appeared on Twitter on 6 March, a white man in a khaki tee-shirt and body armour is shown beside a heavy-calibre machine gun on top of one of the sand-coloured vehicles as the column drives through the streets at dusk.
A Reuters reporter with knowledge of Maiduguri was able to verify the location of the photo as the Bama road, leading southeast out of the city, near the University of Maiduguri.
Election campaign posters of Borno state governor Kashim Shettima hanging from street lights indicate it was taken recently. The lights, notable for their ornate ironwork, were only installed last year.
Trainers and technicians
In confirming the presence of hundreds of foreign military contractors on the ground, including recently in the city of Maiduguri, security and diplomatic sources put the total much higher than the hundred or so previously reported.
Nigerian government spokesperson Mike Omeri declined to comment, referring questions to military spokesperson Chris Olukolade, who also declined to respond to multiple requests for comment.
In an interview with Voice of America late on Wednesday, President Goodluck Jonathan said two companies were providing "trainers and technicians" to help Nigerian forces. He did not name the firms, or the nationalities, or give numbers.
But a West African security source and a South African defence source said the foreign troops were linked to the bosses of former South African private military firm Executive Outcomes.
Executive Outcomes was best-known for its involvement in Angola's 1975-2002 civil war and against Revolutionary United Front rebels in an internal conflict in Sierra Leone in 1995. It disbanded in 1998, under pressure from the post-apartheid government in Pretoria to curtail mercenary activities.
Incoherent mix of people
The West African security source said several hundred foreigners were involved in running major offensive operations against Boko Haram, and were being paid around $400 a day in cash.
Their impact on the fighting so far could not be quantified, but the general run of the campaign has seen the tide turn somewhat against Boko Haram in recent weeks.
Separately, a South African defence contractor confirmed to Reuters that ex-Executive Outcomes leaders were involved in the deployment, which comes after the six-week postponement of elections in mid-February due to the threat from Boko Haram.
One Abuja-based diplomat said the South Africans were backed by soldiers and hardware from the former Soviet Union in an alliance against Boko Haram, which has killed thousands of people in its six-year campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria.
"It's an incoherent mix of people, helicopters and random kit from all sorts of different sources, but there is an element of internal cohesion from the Nigerian army," the diplomat said.
"It appears to be a desperate ploy to get some sort of tactical success up there in six weeks for the electoral boost," the diplomat added. The numbers of soldiers involved were in the "low hundreds", the diplomat added.
"No business to be there"
John Stupart, editor of African Armed Forces magazine, identified the troop carriers as Reva III, manufactured by a Pretoria-based company called Integrated Convoy Protection.
After reports of South African military trainers first surfaced in the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper in January, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapise-Nqakula made clear her displeasure, saying any deployment would be illegal under 1998 anti-mercenary laws.
"They are mercenaries, whether they are training, skilling the Nigerian defence force, or scouting for them. The point is they have no business to be there," she was quoted as saying in domestic media this month.
South Africa bans its nationals from participating directly in hostilities for private gain. Georgia, seen as a major source of mercenaries, has laws before parliament criminalising participation in a broad range of foreign military activities.
Reuters was unable to reach the former bosses of Executive Outcomes through military contacts in South Africa.
The appearance of foreign private soldiers comes four months after Nigeria's ambassador to the United States said Washington was not helping the struggle against Boko Haram, and had failed to share intelligence and sell Nigeria the weapons it needed.
The presence of mercenaries from South Africa and the former Soviet Union adds to the broad array of forces lining up against Boko Haram, which has emerged in the last few years as sub-Saharan Africa's biggest security threat.
Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin have committed troops to an 8 700-strong regional force. This week, Chad and Niger launched a joint military offensive deep into Nigerian territory.
US and European special forces have just completed three weeks of war games with regional counterparts near Lake Chad, one of boundaries of a Boko Haram sphere of influence thought at one time to be the size of Belgium.
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Nigeria-drafts-in-foreign-mercenaries-to-take-on-Boko-Haram-20150312

DieVluit:
Picture 1 - South African Reva MK III APC

Picture 2. South African Reva MK III APCs.

No further words necessary.

Patchesagain:


Reminder: Nigerian Army allowed Boko Haram to build a Caliphate the size of Belgium, kill 4000 Nigerian civilians and make 1,5 million people homeless.

Patchesagain:


1. Which ships operate contralto V?
2. The purchase of new un-jammable wire-guided heavyweight torpedoes confirmed by the Minister of Finance

Also:

1. How does detection mean automatic death of the submarine?
2. How effective are ships at detecting torpedoes?
3. How will a ship detect a tiny torpedoe if it cannot detect the massive sub that fired it?
4. What countermeasures are currently in service with NATO and the NN?

Unless you can answer these questions the defeault status is this: One single South African submarine sunk an entire NATO task force

Patchesagain:


Fact remains: South Africans are turning a profit in Nigeria.

Msauza:


Nah: Boko killed more than 8000 civilians.

Msauza:


Look to what this dummy is saying. SA has enough doctors for its 50 million population. The only problem is that they are in conflict with the remuneration that the public hospital doctors get. They want to be paid more with better benefits, like cellphone allowances, car allowance, housing, entertainment, etc. Hence after they graduate they only do their community service at public hospital and thereafter emback into private service either establishing their own or working for top class SA private health facilities which pay competitive salaries. It is here you will never see incompetent Nigerian doctors and others.


However, incompetent Nigerian doctors who cannot do some certain medical procedures, like major surgeries, Organ transplants, like heart, liver and kidneys are employed at public hospitals earning peanuts. All that they could do according to SA medical law are circumcisions, lacerations, stitching wounds, Checking high blood pressure, blood tests etc.

agaugust:


Nigeria's Dangote had not even started operations yet when made his first 1 billion Rand free largesse profit from the pockets of your M.oronic South African business executives, all because we are smarter than you, we milk you dry like dairy cows
.

Msauza:



The wife of Lotz ostensibly told the press that his husband was a fighter and soldier and that he had just left Iraq for Nigeria before his untimely death.

Did you hear that dummy. The man was a mercenary. Donner.

DieVluit:
Picture 1 - South African Reva MK III APC

Picture 2. South African Reva MK III APCs.

No further words necessary.

agaugust:


So you have been meeting the man's wife privately while her husband was on mechanic duty in Nigeria? Can't you find a lady who is not engaged? Anyway, she is fully disengaged now, so carry on....
.

agaugust:


Nigeria's Dangote had not even started operations yet when made his first 1 billion Rand free largesse profit from the pockets of your M.oronic South African business executives, all because we are smarter than you, we milk you dry like dairy cows
.

agaugust:



Citation Needed !
.

saengine:
So the Nigerian military buys equipment, but is so incompetent it needs people to show them how to change tyres. Even worse it's generals are sending men to war with equipment that non of them know how to use. Training on equipment while Boko Haram is shooting at you....interesting.

See when people are desperate, they leave plenty gaps in their argument which they dont notice. So this particular man was performing maintenance on brand new military vehicles according to some here. What maintenance does a brand new vehicle need, besides a basic check? Equipment that hasnt been around for even 2 months and you need specialists to come check your oil filters for you....interesting.

Lets go a step further. In the case of the mine resistant armour vehicles bought from SA. These are not high tech, high end defence products. These vehicles perform well based on their chassis and frame design. No technician out on any field can ever change that.

The most "technologically advanced" part of this vehicle would be the weapons package and communication system. And since people here have insisted that these new vehicles are being driven straight to the front, somewhere out there there is a clueless Nigerian soldier shouting "white man white man, i need to contact my commander, show me how to use radio-o". And in the vehicle next to him "white man white man, i see Boko Haram, show me how to shoot-o".

So in conclusion, Nigeria cant perform the most basic maintenance on its vehicles because they claim they are new. Imagine a mechanic who doesnt know how to change a BMW 3 Series tyre, because he's used to changing Toyota Tazz tyres. And when these brand new vehicles are driven to the front, you need another set of people to show you how to use them in active combat.

Msauza:


SA trained doctors are in high demand across the world.

This is what seems to happen to Nigerian trained doctors in Europe- The results is unwanted.


https://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/01/02/nigeria-trained-doctors-rank-second-on-uk-blacklist/

In Canada and US they wouldn't be allowed to practise medics or even touch patients if they were trained in Nigeria, rather they will be allowed to work as cleaners.

agaugust:


Take it easy now, big brother, what's wrong with the fact that mighty Nigeria has turned your former masters South African white-men into casual labour mechanics ? If we had taken your jobless blacks from Soweto instead, they will washing Nigerian toilets after we poooh pooooh .

With the way things are going, Nigerian pimps can afford to employ Miss South Africa beauty queen 2014 and deploy her in one of our brothels
.

Msauza:


Don't bring old pics here.

agaugust:


Who cares? As long as we win the war, who cares about old battles? The final victor is the final WINNER and that is Nigeria.

Nigeria lost towns to Biafra in some battles, but Biafra lost the whole war at the end.

You read Bible? See book of wisdom in proverbs saying "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof."
.

Henry120:


Just like the North-Africans, culturally, northern Nigerians also celebrate by firing weapons in the air.

No fuss. It's tradition.

overhypedsteve:
dude he brought it to the table to prove his point. where re your mercs flying those jets.

stillchris:


mumu. if you have sense you will notice the town has already been cleared. look around the video, you'll see smokes and damages.

those guys are mopping up the area with suppressive fire provided.

as for those arguing, don't tell me sh1t like that never happened in professional militaries. they will be dealt with for sure.

Henry120:


Nigeria lost no patch of land to boko-haram.

MikeCZAR:
Nope.

What the video shows is what Nigerian soldiers do, they just move all over the place.

They were engaging targets.

Msauza:



Those pics are old damn it!! SA mercs are only approximately six weeks in Naija dammy and that pic was taken some years ago.

MikeCZAR:


They can't move in formation.

There's no command and control over the men, they just fire willingly.

They're fighting while the enemy might still be very close.

PURE REBELS!!!!!! They'd be eaten if they went against a real army.

lezz:
All qualified Nigerian doctors undergo English and general test to master their host accent and patient-doctor relations before they start practicising.

And if they so choose to engage in other jobs before they embark on full professional practice is another story.

But to set the records straight, of all of Africa, Nigeria produce doctors in higher numbers abroad than all southern African countries put together.

Before I drop my sources, I deem it proper to advice southafrican blacks not to jump into world affairs and events. Sit on the by lines and ask questions, observe and take notes. Better still, ask your neighbors of Angola, zimbabwe or Zambia.

Mixing up with the rest of the civilised humanity only in 1994 leaves you as usurpers, uncouth and out of touch with modern events.

It is the reason why all of you are making damming and ridiculous comments here with manipulative and misleading sources.

The Anglo-dutch are still extending their ( yours actually) lands and economic empire and you Zulu children are pretending to be Africa's best, debating with Nigeria whom God has mad your betters and liberators.

.....I almost forgot the links. Here they are http://ekoonibajeng.com/index.php?topic=239.0;wap https://dailytrust.com.ng/top-stories/6462-nma-revelation-two-thirds-of-nigerian-doctors-practice-abroad Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas - Home www.anpa.org/Non-profit organization of physicians and surgeons of Nigerian descent who are practicing in the United States and
......... Editorial: Migrating Nigerian Medical Doctors - huhuonline www.huhuonline.com/.../2287-editorial-... Mobile-friendly - Sep 24, 2013 - Other reports suggest that over 15,000 Nigeria-trained medical doctors are practicing abroad. This is ...