Rupert Bowen
Rupert Bowen is a former MI6 officer and Sandline International representative.[1]
Contents
Early career
According to Intelligence Newsletter Bowen spent seven years in the Army and four with the Ministry of Defence.[2]
Northern Ireland
Intelligence Newsletter reports that Bowen served in Northern Ireland:
- In 1975 he was attached to the military intelligence corps at the Thiepval barracks in Northern Ireland where he liaised with MI5's Ian Cameron on the first floor and Craig Connell Smellie, MI6 chief of staff from 1973 to 1976, who was directly involved in running cross-border covert ope[ra]tions.[3]
A September 1985 Lobster magazine article oon British intelligence agents by Stephen Dorril included the following entry on Bowen:
- MI5
- N IRELAND ARMY HQ(LISBURN) 1970sCite error: Closing
</ref>missing for<ref>tag He retired from the latter position in 1993.[4]
Branch Energy
According to Intelligence Newsletter, Bowen joined Branch Energy following his retirement.[5]
Sierra Leone
In May 1995, Bowen announced that Valentine Strasser's Sierra Leonean Government had hired Executive Outcomes.[6]
The Independent described the details as follows:
- Branch Energy was to co-ordinate the operation. The security aspects would be run by Executive Outcomes while the commercial elements would be headed by Alan Paterson, a South African who had formerly headed a de Beers subsidiary in Sierra Leone. Bowen indicated that the project was expected to run for 35-40 years.[7]
Arms to Africa
According to Madelaine Drohan, Bowen was one of the people who kept British High Commissioner Peter Penfold informed of plans for a mercenary operation to restore Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah following his overthrow in May 1997:
- Penfold never met with Kabbah, Spicer and Patel all at once, but he was kept apprised of the plans by the president, Spicer and Rupert Bowen, a former diplomatic colleague who worked for Diamondworks before moving to Sandline.[8]
Affiliations
Connections
External Resources
- NameBase: Bowen, Rupert
Notes
- ↑ Fran Abrams and Paul Lashmar, MI6 `backed Africa coup', The Independent, 5 October 1998.
- ↑ Rupert Bowen (United Kingdom), Intelligence Newsletter, 30 July 1998.
- ↑ Rupert Bowen (United Kingdom), Intelligence Newsletter, 30 July 1998.
- ↑ Fran Abrams and Paul Lashmar, MI6 `backed Africa coup', The Independent, 5 October 1998.
- ↑ Rupert Bowen (United Kingdom), Intelligence Newsletter, 30 July 1998.
- ↑ Fran Abrams, Andrew Buncombe, Steve Boggan and Mark Stucke, Who is Tony Buckingham? And why does everyone want to talk to him?, The Independent, 13 May 1998.
- ↑ Michael Ashworth, Africa's New Enforcers, The Independent, 16 September 1996.
- ↑ Madelaine Drohan, Making a Killing, Lyons Press, 2004, p.238.
