Mike Hoare
 Mike Hoare      ( Soldier, Mercenary) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 17 March 1919 British India |
| Died | 02 February 2020 (Age 100) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | Phyllis Sims |
| Perpetrator of | Seychelles/1981 coup attempt |
| Interests | • Military •  Mercenary• Chindits |
A British Army Soldier and later an infamous Mercenary with numerous exploits to his name. | |
Michael "Mike" Thomas Bernard Hoare (a.k.a. 'Mad Mike') was a British Army Soldier and mercenary who was involved in numerous conflicts in Africa and elsewhere, with the the cooperation of the CIA, especially in the Congo.
He died at home in the UK in 2020, at age 100 [1]
Contents
Background
Hoare was born in British India[2] and was educated in England. In World War II, he fought the Japanese in Burma as an officer Long Range Penetration Group, the British India special forces known as the Chindits, under Brigadier Bernard Fergusson.[3]
After the war, he trained as a chartered accountant, qualifying in 1948.[4]
Career
Hoare subsequently emigrated to Durban, Natal Province in the Union of South Africa, where he later ran safaris and became a soldier-for-hire in various African countries.
Katanga
Mike Hoare's first mercenary action was in 1961 in support of Katanga, a Belgian attempt to establish a puppet breakaway state led by Moise Tshombe from the newly independent Republic of the Congo. His unit was called "4 Commando".
In September 1960, twelve weeks after becoming Congo's first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba was deposed in a coup because of his opposition to the Belgian-backed secession of the mineral-rich Katanga province.[5]
Lumumba was subsequently imprisoned and tortured by the secessionist Katangan authorities under Joseph-Desiré Mobutu, and executed by firing squad on 17 January 1961. The United States (via the Central Intelligence Agency) long denied involvement[6][7][8] but the UK government was implicated in April 2013 by Lord Lea of Crondall's public claim that fellow peer and former MI6 officer Daphne Park had admitted to him shortly before she died in March 2010 that Britain was involved in Patrice Lumumba's assassination.[9]
Congolese Affair
Numerous "Presidential Daily Briefings" (PDB) contain the exploits of Colonel Mike Hoare and were read solely by the President of the United States at the time (now declassified). This lays claim that there is no doubt the CIA was using Mike and "5 Commando" (Mercenary) to fight the Rebels in the Congo during 1964-1965.
After a regime change in Congo where Patrice Lumumba got killed and Moise Tshombe came to power, it faced a new crisis in 1964 when rebels, with Communist support from amongst others Che Guevara, rebelled against the mismanagement of the central government in Léopoldville. Hoare was again hired in, and recruited and trained 500 German, Italian, Greek, Belgian, Rhodesian and South African mercenaries, each paid $364 to $1,100 a month, to lead Congolese forces against the rebels.
Rip Robertson was the CIA man (from the Bay of Pigs) tasked to back up Mike during his exploits to insure Mike was successful which adds even more credence to Mike's CIA loose affiliation[10] [11]. Rip and a band of 17 heavily armed Cuban expatriates[12] supported Mike against the Congolese Rebels during 1964/65. Mike highly praised his CIA (Including Rip Robertson) and CIA backed Cuban fellow fighters[13] on their exploits and fierce fighting ability.
Selected Relevant Presidential Daily Briefings - PDB's
The below presidential daily briefings provide evidence that Hoare was CIA-affiliated.
- 10 December 1964
- 2 February 1965
- 16 March 1965
- 17 March 1965
- 18 March 1965
- 25 March 1965
- 29 March 1965
- 31 March 1965
1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt
- Full article: 1981 Seychelles coup attempt
- Full article: 1981 Seychelles coup attempt
Hoare led a group of mercenaries who in 1981 infiltrated the Seychelles disguised as a beer-tasting team, and attempted a coup d'état.[14]
This was later found – from evidence given to the UN Investigation into the death of UNSG Dag Hammarskjöld – to have been planned by the South African Institute for Maritime Research:
- The alleged “Operation Celeste” documents analysed by Susan Williams bear similarities to those of later SAIMR operations, including those relating to the so-called “Operation Anvil”, an attempted coup in Seychelles in 1981, in which Keith Maxwell and Dalgleish, along with Jerry Puren and Mike Hoare – former mercenaries who had been in the Congo in 1961 – and others were allegedly involved.[15]
An event carried out
| Event | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Seychelles/1981 coup attempt | Seychelles | Failed coup planned by the South African Institute for Maritime Research |
References
- ↑ Mercenary 'Mad Mike' Hoare dies aged 100 - BBC News 3 Feb 2020
- ↑ Chris Hoare. "A brief biography of Mike Hoare, listing some of his involvements around the world".
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/obituaries/mike-hoare-dies.html
- ↑ Cautionary Tales: Soldier of Fortune; Accountancy Journal,January 2012 volume 148,issue 1421,page 113,publisher ICAEW,issn 0001-4664
- ↑ Zeilig, Leo (2008). Lumumba: Africa's Lost Leader (Life&Times). Haus Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-905791-02-6
- ↑ Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, 1999, Mariner Books, ISBN 0-618-00190-5, ISBN 978-0-618-00190-3.
- ↑ Ludo De Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba, Trans. by Ann Wright and Renée Fenby, 2002 (Orig. 2001), London; New York: Verso, ISBN 1-85984-410-3.
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/21/arts/belgium-confronts-its-heart-darkness-unsavory-colonial-behavior-congo-will-be.html?pagewanted=1
- ↑ "MI6 and the death of Patrice Lumumba"
- ↑ Mike Hoare (Congo Mercenary) - Historyofwar.org
- ↑ Mike Hoare - military,wikia.com
- ↑ https://reassessingcounterinsurgency.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/michaels-breaking-the-rules_-the-cia-and-counterinsurgency-in-the-congo-1964e280931965.pdf
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=dwuN8y-SeYUC&pg=PT142&lpg=PT142&dq=mike+hoare+rip+robertson&source=bl&ots=mZ44KDTT2p&sig=YpxaNCIJzmVEG7gnPUAkXmxgBbc&hl=en&ei=UvnCTdCWBobiiALIzfyjAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q=mike%20hoare%20rip%20robertson&f=false
- ↑ http://www.economist.com/node/988029
- ↑ "Paragraph 278 of Executive Summary of Othman report in relation to the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and of the members of the party accompanying him"
