Description
My Friend The Mercenary is a memoir by British war reporter and filmmaker James Brabazon, recounting his experiences covering the Liberian civil war and his unlikely friendship with South African mercenary Nick du Toit. Working with Du Toit as his bodyguard, Brabazon became the only journalist to film behind rebel lines, gaining an extraordinary and dangerous perspective on the conflict.
Two years later, their friendship became entangled with an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea. Brabazon was drawn into the story when Du Toit and other mercenaries became involved in a plot to overthrow the government. The coup failed, its organisers were arrested, and Du Toit was sentenced to thirty-four years in Black Beach Prison. Brabazon explores both events and the morally difficult world of mercenaries, spies, war reporting and violent regime change.
A good choice for readers interested in war memoirs, African conflicts, journalism, mercenaries and true stories of political intrigue, as well as anyone drawn to accounts of unlikely friendships formed in extraordinary circumstances.
