March 1977.
Footage of an ITN News report by Desmond Hamill about the training of recruits into the Selous Scouts, a Special Forces Unit of the Rhodesian Army which participated in the counterinsurgency campaign against the African Liberation guerrilla militias ZANLA–ZANU and ZIPRA–ZAPU.
Led by Major Ronald Reid-Daly (1928-2010), the unit, which was multi-racial in membership, specialised in irregular warfare. Its methods included infiltration, assassination, abduction, torture, sabotage and blackmail.
It is also claimed to have practised psychological warfare. It was suspected of orchestrating "False Flag" operations designed to implicate and discredit the African guerrillas. One suspected incident concerns the murder of European Roman Catholic Missionaries in 1977. Athough this and other attacks on missionaries were blamed on Black Nationalist groups, responsibility for the atrocities remain in doubt.
However, evidence that bomb attacks on churches were carried out by the unit in an attempt to discredit Black Nationalist organisations came in February 1980 after two members of the Scouts died when a bomb wrecked their car on Thursday, February 14th -the same night that three other bombs had been planted at Salisbury churches.
The Selous Scouts were effective in terms of eliminating Black Nationalist guerrillas. They had a "kill rate" which was far in excess of that of the regular Rhodesian Army. The unit was formed in 1973 and disbanded in 1980 when Rhodesia was re-constituted as Zimbabwe.
The unit's motto was "Pamwe Chete", which means "All Together" in the Shona language.
Source of Footage: Getty Images.
See also:
Major Reid-Daly Interview | Selous Scouts Commander | Rhodesian Army | Inkomo Barracks | March 1977 [ Ссылка ]
Read:
"Rhodesia: Ruminations on a Former Colonial Settler State"
[ Ссылка ]
