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2 - The Return of the Mercenaries

The 1976 Luanda Trial in Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2024

Alberto Rinaldi
Affiliation:
Lunds Universitet, Sweden
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Summary

Chapter 2 explores the figure of the white mercenary in the context of decolonization by analysing the outcome of the Luanda trial and the response of the UK government to the indictment of its nationals in Angola. This is essential to highlight the fundamental distinction between these foreign fighters and the volunteers of the Spanish Civil War: fighting for personal profit as opposed to fighting for a noble cause, respectively. However, Western soldiers of fortune seem to be moved by certain political ideals: namely, to avoid a communist takeover of the African continent. The figure of the adventurer encountered in the interwar period reappears here, illustrating the ambivalent passions underlying attempts to ban or endorse mercenarism. The chapter ends with an analysis of the travaux of Art. 47 of API which frames the eventual exclusion of mercenaries from prisoner of war status in international armed conflicts.

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Chapter
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Ghosts of International Law
The Figure of the Foreign Fighter in a Cultural Perspective
, pp. 95 - 153
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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