The government in the Democratic Republic of Congo recently hired so many alien mercenaries to help fight the rebels in Goma.
Except this is neither new nor strange, because since the 1960s, Kinshasa has been deploying so many foreign mercenaries in the past to suppress rebellions, either real or imaginary ones.
In fact, most famous mercenaries of the 20th century, such as Thomas Michael known as ‘Mad Mike’ Hoare, a British-Irish mercenary, began their careers in the DR Congo.
Hoare had first worked as a mercenary in the Congo in 1961, when he was hired to crush a rebellion in the Southern Katanga Province.
In 1964, Prime Minister Moise Tshombe hired him to fight a rebel group called Simbas.
For this purpose, he formed a mercenary unit called 5 Commando, which was made up of a team of 300 white South African mercenaries.
They collaborated with CIA hired mercenaries, ex Cuban pilots, and Belgian paratroopers to capture the City of Stanleyville which is now known as Kisangani from the Simbas.
During this operation, Robert Denard, a famous French mercenary, led six commandos Mercenary Unit, while Jean “Black Jack” Schramme, a famous mercenary from Belgium led 10 Commando mercenaries.
William Alexander “Rip” Robertson Junior, a famous American mercenary working on behalf of the CIA, led a team of 17 Cuban mercenaries.
Young Ernesto “Che” Guevara was in the DR Congo from April to November 21, 1965, starting his mission from Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania to lead a column of more than 100 Cuban and Congolese guerrillas in DR Congo.
Guevara’s battalion was however regarded as ‘liberation,’ troops.
In the 1990s, The Dictator Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko hired French mercenaries to fight a rebellion led by Laurent​ Desire Kabila, who had previously also stayed in Tanzania.
When Kabila came to power, his army was made up of Ugandan and Rwandan mercenaries who had helped him overthrow Mobutu.
Another group of Uganda and Angola mercenaries in Kabila’s army was led by a famous Kenyan mercenary called “Brigadier” John Odongo from Kisumu Rural. Odongo had also provided fighters for Museveni and Kagame.