FRANCE:African presidents will be able to sleep a little easier following the death at the weekend of Bob Denard, a French mercenary and real-life "dog of war".
He led countless coups across the continent and his life is believed to have been the inspiration for Cat Shannon, the central figure in Frederick Forsyth's novel The Dogs of War.
The 78-year-old had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease and died in Paris, according to family members.
After leaving the French armed forces, Denard - just one of a number of aliases used by the man born Gilbert Bourgeaud - became legendary for his role in a series of wars during the 1960s and 1970s as African countries were decolonised.
His detractors accused him of links to the extreme-right and of using the cover of defending French interests for maverick operations which made him feared and hated in Africa.
Bertrand Badie, professor of international relations at Sciences Po university in Paris, said: "Denard was symbolic of the whole ambiguity of relations between the colonisers and the colonies which had become independent. He's also seen a bit as the inventor of private armies."
Denard made his reputation as a mercenary in the Congo. His ruthless efficiency when faced with poorly equipped, poorly trained African troops earned his band of European former soldiers the nickname "les affreux", or the frightful ones.
In 1964 his raid on Stanleyville, Congo, to rescue Europeans trapped by rebels is thought to be the basis for the film The Wild Geese. He was also involved in fighting in the former Rhodesia, Nigeria, Benin, Angola, Iran and Yemen.
It is widely assumed that many of his operations were carried out with the tacit support of a French government keen to maintain influence as it lost its colonies.
In later years he devoted much of his time to the Comoros islands off the east coast of Africa. He led no fewer than four coups from 1975 to 1995 and served as head of the presidential guard after converting to Islam.
His activities won him two convictions in French courts but he never faced trial in Africa. Moustoifa Said Cheikh, leader of the Democratic Front party in the Comoros, said: "I regret he was not made to answer to all the crimes he committed in our country, the murders and the torture which he was guilty of."