* Foreign soldiers spotted in northeast Nigeria

* South African, ex-Soviet soldiers bolster Boko Haram fight

* Nigerian president speaks of "trainers and technicians"

* Pretoria says any deployment 'illegal'

By Ed Cropley and David Lewis

JOHANNESBURG/DAKAR, March 12 (Reuters) - 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 March 28 election, according to regional security, defense and diplomatic sources.

Rumors about the use of foreign "soldiers of fortune" against the Islamist militant group gained substance this month when pictures surfaced on Twitter showing armored 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 March 6, a white man in a khaki tee-shirt and body armor is shown beside a heavy-caliber machine gun on top of one of the sand-colored 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.

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 spokesman Mike Omeri declined to comment, referring questions to military spokesman 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 defense 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.

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 defense 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 Defense Review, 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, Defense 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 defense 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 criminalizing 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.

U.S. 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. (Additional reporting by Tim Cocks, Isaac Abrak, Julia Payne and Lanre Ola; Editing by Giles Elgood)



http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6853372?ir=Black+Voices&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000047

nonsense news

DEATHMACHINE:
nonsense news

Na confirm news, Jonathan does not have the interest of Nigeria at heart. He refused to provide equipment needed to fight bokoharam for months but can now afford mercenaries. For what? Election or bokoharam?

IleIfe2:


Na confirm news, Jonathan does not have the interst of Nigeria at heart. He refused to provide equipment needed to fight bokoharam for months but can now afford mercenaries. For what Election or bokoharam?

as someone who is presently serving in the North east for the thrird time ,take my word.

DEATHMACHINE:

as someone who is presently serving in the North east for the thrird time ,take my word.

and where do you think i'm posting from? The south African diplomats know what they are saying, you can't call them APC, abi?

this is a real and serious security breach

IleIfe2:


and where do you think i'm posting from?

where

This rubbish foreign-sponsored propaganda.

zizazizu:
This rubbish foreign-sponsored propaganda.

Don't mind the south Africans, they are working for APC.

DEATHMACHINE:

where

The north east.

What still amazes me is that the supporters of Jonathan has not yet reconciled realistic reasoning with their far reaching fantasies about this man. If uptil now you don't know that jonathan has sold the destiny of the north away, you are still on a long thing.
Now at the point when you are about to finish the race, you set yourself back!

Desperate times and desperate measures. This will help curb internal sabotage.

Yoruba people who want northerners to continue dying so that they will use it for political gains are the only ones complaining about this.

nwafuluozoh:
Desperate times and desperate measures. This will help curb internal sabotage.

No amaount of desperation will win Jonathan this election. no reasonable Nigerian will vote someone who has taken their dignity away.

Ikwokrikwo:
Yoruba people who want northerners to continue dying so that they will use it for political gains are the only ones complaining about this.

ote

DEATHMACHINE:

where

Dude, DEATHMACHINE is in the army. You can check his posts to confirm

Jonathan must go

Their end is near

Somebody going back to Cambridge. Kill them all

diluminati:
What still amazes me is that the supporters of Jonathan has not yet reconciled realistic reasoning with their far reaching fantasies about this man. If uptil now you don't know that jonathan has sold the destiny of the north away, you are still on a long thing.
Now at the point when you are about to finish the race, you set yourself back!

Hope you know this thread is total Bullshït

The worst. President ever GEJ

This is a normal practice in wars. Nigeria and Biafra had mercenaries fighting for them.
Jonathan is a war-time president taking tactical war decisions.

kill all d bh bastards

Well...no problem......but....we do need our own Special Purpose Forces.

So that next time...we won't need ex-Spestnaz and ex-South African special forces guys.

P.S...I noticed the name of this group...''Executive Outcomes''. They were a mercenary organization(South African). that were of help to us during the Sierra Leone war in the 1990's.

signz:


Dude, DEATHMACHINE is in the army. You can check his posts to confirm

He's not just in the army, he's in the armys Special Force, now the trash talker is screwed

Kill'em all. Wipe them and their history off our land.

Who knows how I can volunteer to join the mercenaries?

raison d'état


for those who those understand the power of the state in international politics then don't bother commenting on this topic

A Nairalander wrote :

Tompolo's militants are 'securing' our waterways from priates

Gani Adams' OPCs are 'protecting' our pipelines from vandals

Tchadian soldiers are defending our territory from insurgents

south african and russian mercenaries are fighting our wars for us

what then is the responsibilty of the Nigerian armed forces when we have already outsourced our national security and the defence of our territorial intergrity to militants, mercenaries and foreign armies

jonathan is the worst commander-in-chief in the history of Nigeria. Jonathans incompetence and mediocrity has finished off all our institutions viz: military, judiciary, anti-graft agencies, media etc

JONATHAN MUST GO !!!

I reserve my comment. ...

But is this really to our best interest?