The fascinating, true-life inside story of a journalist caught up in the chaos and danger of African politics. Brabazon befriends a South African mercenary soldier and finds himself on the inside of the widely-reported and infamous failed military coup of Equatorial Guinea in 2004.This book skillfully and dramatically describes a life that seems so set apart from the Western world that it cannot be real. Yet, for so many Africans, this is their world and, to them, oh so real. Finally, is Simon Mann a hero or villain? Read this book and judge for yourself. You'll find it much more enjoyable than Googling him!
James Brabazon, a war reporter and filmmaker, was already a veteran of many conflict zones by his early thirties. So when he was offered an exclusive opportunity to report from Liberia, caught up in a vicious civil war, it proved too tempting to turn down. He needed to take a bodyguard, someone with strong knowledge of the region and, more importantly, someone with a gun slung over his shoulder. James hired Nick du Toit, a former South African soldier and mercenary commander, to guide him into the bloody world of Liberia's rebels. During their time together, James and Nick slowly formed an unlikely friendship, forged during scorching days under unrelenting gunfire. Narrowly surviving the harrowing experience, James returned to the quieter, saner confines of his life in London. But only a few months later he found himself back with Nick in a fly-blown bar in West Africa plotting another, much more dangerous journey-this time to the heart of Equatorial Guinea. Nick's mission: to overthrow the government of this tiny nation fabulously rich in oil. My Friend the Mercenary is an exploration of the mercenary myth and a chapter in the story of modern Africa. It is a brutally honest and undeniably human account of a journey into the heart of what it takes to be a friend, a survivor and a journalist in the morally corrosive crucible of war.
An outstanding memoir about the power of friendship in the morally complex theatre of war. James Brabazon is a fearless reporter and a brutally honest narrator. I couldn't put this book down.' - Andy McNab
'James Brabazon has written a fully-adrenalized book about civil war, mercenaries and the tiny margins by which fate determines the course of one's life. He is not only a beautiful writer but an incredibly brave reporter, and this book reflects both brilliantly. I was also in the Liberian civil war in 2003 - on the other side - and I remember hearing that there was this crazy Brit who was running with the rebels as they advanced on the capital. Brabazon's account of an attempted coup by friends of his in Equatorial Guinea is a classic story of intrigue, greed and violence in one of the most dysfunctional countries in the world.' - Sebastian Junger
'Compelling.' - Sunday Times
'Intriguing.' - Spectator
Author
About James Brabazon
James Brabazon is an award-winning frontline journalist and documentary filmmaker. Based in London, he has reported in over sixty countries, investigating, filming and directing in the world's most hostile environments. His awards include the Rory Peck Trust International Impact Award 2003, the Rory Peck Freelancer's Choice Award 2003, the IDA Courage Under Fire Award 2004 and the IDFA Joris Ivens Competition Special Jury Award 2004. He has also been nominated for two BAFTAs and two EMMYs. He has made thirty international current affairs films broadcast by the BBC, Channel 4, CNN, SABC and the Discovery Channel. He lectures on the ethics and practicalities of journalism in war zones and has written for the Observer, the Independent and the Guardian.
