Summary: James BrabazonView on Amazon[Crossposted from New Books in African Studies] It's a routine observation that journalists never give Africa a fair shake of the dice: they're only ever there for the famines and wars. James Brabazon is a journalist who made his career in Africa, first in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and then in places like Zimbabwe and DRC. His book My Friend the Mercenary: A Memoir (Canongate, 2010), is about a friendship that grew up with an unlikely figure – a white mercenary and former colonel in the apartheid-era South African special forces – and how he was almost caught up in a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea that saw this unlikely friend spend six years in one of the continent's worst prisons. My Friend the Mercenary certainly does have that typical African background of war and violence, but it is not fly-in, fly-out journalism. It's a very human book that sheds light on how wars build bonds between people, how wrong decisions cost lives, and about the difficulties of looking for the real impact of violence on ordinary people. There is a first-hand account of the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea (and civil war in Liberia) that is closer to the events than anything else out there. The book is also a very African story that gives the continent far more texture and sympathy than most other works of journalism. First and foremost 'My friend the mercenary' is also an extraordinary story, well written, and a cracking good read. I hope you enjoy the interview.
