Duncan Rykaart
Duncan Rykaart (died 2009) was a former South African soldier[1]
According to Al Venter, Rykaart was at one time OC of 52 Commando of Five Reconnaissance Regiment (5RR), and subsequently acting commander of 5RR after the death of Corrie Meerholz.[2]
According to Venter, Rykaart was his escort officer when Executive Outcomes (EO) invited him to visit Cabo Ledo and Saurimo in Angola in the mid-1990s.[3]
Rykaart is also reported to have been EO's first senior commander in Sierra Leone.[4]
Africa Confidential reported in 2001, that Rykaart was a director of NFD, an Executive Outcomes offshoot that was alleged to have signed a military contract with the Sudanese government.[5]
Rykaart worked for four-and-a-half years in Iraq, up until two months before his death.[6] According to his Linkedin profile, Rykaart worked for Aegis Defence Services.[7]
Rykaart was killed in Uganda in March 2009, when the plane he was travelling in crashed into Lake Victoria shortly after take-off. He had been working at the time for a U.S.-based landmine research company, Bancroft Global Development.[8]
notes
- ↑ SA crash victim named, The Star (South Africa), 11 March 2009.
- ↑ Al J. Venter, War dog: fighting other people's wars : the modern mercenary in combat, Casemate, 2008, p.604.
- ↑ Al J. Venter, Iran's nuclear option: Tehran's quest for the atom bomb, Casemate, 2005, p.174.
- ↑ Scott Fitzsimmons, Adapt or Die: The Cultural Foundations of Military Performance in the Sierra Leonean Civil War, University of Calgary 2009.
- ↑ Guns for hire again" , Africa Confidential, 23 November 2001, quoted in Eric Reeves, A reconstituted "Executive Outcomes" provides security for Khartoum in Southern Sudan Oil fields, sudanreeves.org, January 7, 2002.
- ↑ Former South African policeman died in Uganda plane crash:report, Xinhua General News Service, 11 March 2009.
- ↑ Duncan Rykaart, LinkedIn, accessed 9 November 2010.
- ↑ Former South African policeman died in Uganda plane crash:report, Xinhua General News Service, 11 March 2009.
