COVERT attempts by President Chirac to exert influence over Africa were exposed by a French court yesterday, when it denounced his secret services for conniving with a band of mercenaries in a coup in the tiny Comoros Islands.

In a damning ruling, the Paris Criminal Tribunal said that the French authorities had given at least tacit approval to the 1995 coup led by Bob Denard, the best-known French soldier of fortune.

The judgment came as Denard, now 77, and 26 other defendants were found guilty of criminal association in connection with a military operation to oust Said Mohamed Djohar, the Comoros President, 11 years ago.

The court refused a prosecution demand to jail the plotters and instead handed out suspended sentences after hearing them claim that they were acting with the backing of M Chirac’s Government.

Although France has long been accused of secret operations to maintain its influence in Africa, the ruling constituted an unprecedented, public condemnation of these practices. It was particularly embarrassing for M Chirac, who has sought to portray himself as one of the Third World’s greatest advocates in the West.

“It is clear that the French secret services knew of the plan for a coup d’état conceived by Robert Denard, both its preparation and execution,” the court said.

“It is also evident that at the very least they did nothing to hinder it and that they therefore allowed it to reach its conclusion. As a consequence, that means political leaders must also have wanted it.”

Denard led 30 mercenaries who landed on the Indian Ocean islands in rubber dinghies on September 27, 1995, and captured M Djohar in his palace.

A week later M Chirac sent a 600-man force that put down the putsch but did not restore M Djohar to power.

Denard has Alzheimer’s disease and attended only the first day of the three-week trial in February. But in testimony read to the court, he said that he “never for one moment believed he was acting against the interests of my country — quite the contrary.”Maître Elie Hatem, Denard’s lawyer, said that the coup — codenamed “Eskazi” — was “controlled by French politicians. It was a pretext for France to intervene and get rid of a president.”

Denard, one of France’s most colourful figures, spent 30 years in Africa’s battlefields, where he was often suspected of acting on behalf of the French authorities. He was involved in a total of four coups or attempted coups in Comoros Islands after they won independence from France in 1975.

In that year he helped to overthrow Ahmed Abdallah, the country’s first president, before restoring him to power in 1978.

In 1989 M Abdallah was assassinated in suspicious circumstances. Denard was tried for the murder in France ten years later but acquitted for lack of evidence.

Denard, who was born Gilbert Bourgeaud, married seven times and fathered eight children.

Among the 26 others who were convicted yesterday were his long-serving lieutenants, Jean-Paul Guerrier, 55, also known as Captain Slam, and Dominique Malcrino, 54, or Commandant Marques. Four were exempted from any sentence and the rest given suspended jail terms of up to four years.

Maître Said Larifou, the lawyer representing M Djohar’s family, said that the Comoran people would feel insulted by the failure to imprison any of the defendants.

COMOROS CHAOS

In the 30 years since independence the Comoros islands have endured 19 coups or attempted coups. Colonel Bob Denard, a French mercenary whose real name is Gilbert Bourgeaud, was behind four of the most significant

1960-75 Denard gains a fearsome reputation as a soldier of fortune, fighting in the Belgian Congo, North Yemen, Biafra and Angola

August 1975 Deposes Ahmed Abdallah, President of newly independent Comoros. Installs Prince Said Mohamed Jaffar

1976 Jaffar toppled by Ali Soilih, a secular socialist

1978 Denard leads second coup, against Soilih, returning Abdallah to power but with Denard as de facto ruler. Soilih is killed in the coup

1989 After Denard’s mercenaries are asked to leave, Abdallah is assassinated. Denard is forced to leave the islands

1995 Denard organises fourth coup, but is arrested by French military

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