Al J Venter
Encyclopedia
Al J Venter is a war correspondent, documentary filmmaker, and author of more than forty books who also served as an African and Middle East
correspondent for Jane's International Defence Review
.
in 1965, where he spent time covering the conflict with colleague Frederick Forsyth
, who was working in Biafra for the BBC at the time.
In the 1980’s, Venter also reported in Uganda
while under the reign of Idi Amin
. The most notable consequence of this assignment was an hour-long documentary titled Africa’s Killing Fields, ultimately broadcast nationwide in the United States
by Public Broadcasting Service
.
In-between, he cumulatively spent several years reporting on events in the Middle East, fluctuating between Israel
and a beleaguered Lebanon
torn by factional Islamic/Christian violence. He was with the Israeli invasion force when they entered Beirut
in 1982. From there he covered hostilities in Rhodesia
, the Sudan
, Angola
, the South African Border War
, the Congo
as well as Portuguese Guinea
, which resulted in a book on that colonial struggle published by the Munger Africana Library of the California Institute of Technology.
In 1985 he made a one-hour documentary that commemorated the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
He also spent time in Somalia
with the US Army helicopter air wing in the early 1990s, three military assignments with the mercenary group Executive Outcomes
(Angola
and Sierra Leone
) and a Joint-STAR mission with the United States Air Force
over Kosovo
.
More recently, Al Venter was active in Sierra Leone with South African mercenary pilot Neall Ellis flying combat in a Russian helicopter gunship (that leaked when it rained.) That experience formed the basis of the book on mercenaries published recently and titled War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars.
He has been twice wounded in combat, once by a Soviet anti-tank mine in Angola, an event that left him partially deaf.
Al Venter originally qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers at the Baltic Exchange in London.
's escalating guerrilla war in Angola during the 1960s and 1970s that eventually led to the downfall of the government in the Metropolis.
He also wrote Coloured - A Profile of Two Million South Africans (Human & Rosseau, Cape Town 1974) which served as an indictment of Pretoria's racial policies and was penned before it became fashionable to be anti-Apartheid. Unusually progressive for its time, the book highlighted the contribution of Coloured people against Apartheid - some of whom went into exile or chose violent resistance. While he opposed the political system, he got on extremely well with the South African military who subsequently developed a much more realistic approach against racial discrimination. The anti-Apartheid Robert McBride found the book to be one of the most influential toward starting his political activism.
While writing for Britain's Jane's Information Group - he contributed to their publications off and on for 30 years - Al Venter was published, inter alia, by "Jane's Defence Weekly
", "Jane's Intelligence Review
", "Jane's Terrorism and Security Review", "Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst", Before 9/11, he was reporting in considerable depth on nuclear, chemical and biological warfare developments in both the Former Soviet Union and the Middle East.
He subsequently wrote three books on related nuclear issues: Iran's Nuclear Option (Casemate Publishers
, Philadelphia, 2005 and also published in India); Allah's Bomb: The Islamic Quest for Nuclear Weapons (Lyons Press, New Haven, 2007) and How South Africa Built Six Atom Bombs (Ashanti, South Africa 2009).
He has written six books on underwater diving. His latest Dive South Africa was published in 2009 and he is currently finishing a major work on free-diving (out of cages) with sharks. Iran's Nuclear Option
Venter has completed a comprehensive book on African insurgencies titled Guerrilla Wars in Africa - Lisbon's Campaigns in Angola, Mozambique
and Portuguese Guinea
which is also to be translated into Portuguese.
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
correspondent for Jane's International Defence Review
Jane's International Defence Review
Jane's International Defence Review is a monthly magazine reporting on military news and technology.The IDR is one of a number of military-related publications named after Fred T. Jane, an Englishman who first published Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships in 1898. It is a unit of Jane's...
.
Career
He has reported on a number of Africa’s bloodiest wars, starting with the Nigerian Civil WarNigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War, 6 July 1967–15 January 1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra...
in 1965, where he spent time covering the conflict with colleague Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...
, who was working in Biafra for the BBC at the time.
In the 1980’s, Venter also reported in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
while under the reign of Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
. The most notable consequence of this assignment was an hour-long documentary titled Africa’s Killing Fields, ultimately broadcast nationwide in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
.
In-between, he cumulatively spent several years reporting on events in the Middle East, fluctuating between Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and a beleaguered Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
torn by factional Islamic/Christian violence. He was with the Israeli invasion force when they entered Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
in 1982. From there he covered hostilities in Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, the Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, the South African Border War
South African Border War
The South African Border War, commonly referred to as the Angolan Bush War in South Africa, was a conflict that took place from 1966 to 1989 in South-West Africa and Angola between South Africa and its allied forces on the one side and the Angolan government, South-West Africa People's...
, the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
as well as Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
, which resulted in a book on that colonial struggle published by the Munger Africana Library of the California Institute of Technology.
In 1985 he made a one-hour documentary that commemorated the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
He also spent time in Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
with the US Army helicopter air wing in the early 1990s, three military assignments with the mercenary group Executive Outcomes
Executive Outcomes
Executive Outcomes was a private military company founded in South Africa by former Lieutenant-Colonel of the South African Defence Force Eeben Barlow in 1989. It later became part of the South African-based holding company Strategic Resource Corporation....
(Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
) and a Joint-STAR mission with the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
over Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
.
More recently, Al Venter was active in Sierra Leone with South African mercenary pilot Neall Ellis flying combat in a Russian helicopter gunship (that leaked when it rained.) That experience formed the basis of the book on mercenaries published recently and titled War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars.
He has been twice wounded in combat, once by a Soviet anti-tank mine in Angola, an event that left him partially deaf.
Al Venter originally qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers at the Baltic Exchange in London.
Books
Al J Venter wrote one the first ever books on the developing guerrilla wars in Central and Southern Africa. That was The Terror Fighters, published by the British company Purnells in Cape Town in 1969. It dealt with LisbonLisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
's escalating guerrilla war in Angola during the 1960s and 1970s that eventually led to the downfall of the government in the Metropolis.
He also wrote Coloured - A Profile of Two Million South Africans (Human & Rosseau, Cape Town 1974) which served as an indictment of Pretoria's racial policies and was penned before it became fashionable to be anti-Apartheid. Unusually progressive for its time, the book highlighted the contribution of Coloured people against Apartheid - some of whom went into exile or chose violent resistance. While he opposed the political system, he got on extremely well with the South African military who subsequently developed a much more realistic approach against racial discrimination. The anti-Apartheid Robert McBride found the book to be one of the most influential toward starting his political activism.
While writing for Britain's Jane's Information Group - he contributed to their publications off and on for 30 years - Al Venter was published, inter alia, by "Jane's Defence Weekly
Jane's Defence Weekly
Jane's Defence Weekly is a weekly magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs, edited by Peter Felstead. It is one of a number of military-related publications named after John F. T. Jane, an Englishman who first published Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships in 1898...
", "Jane's Intelligence Review
Jane's Intelligence Review
Jane's Intelligence Review is a monthly journal on military intelligence published by Jane's Information Group . Its coverage includes international security issues, ongoing conflicts, organized crime, and weapons proliferation....
", "Jane's Terrorism and Security Review", "Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst", Before 9/11, he was reporting in considerable depth on nuclear, chemical and biological warfare developments in both the Former Soviet Union and the Middle East.
He subsequently wrote three books on related nuclear issues: Iran's Nuclear Option (Casemate Publishers
Casemate Publishers
Casemate Publishers, also known as Casemate, is a Philadelphia-based publishing company that specializes in producing printed military history books. They have published over 100 books on military history. Many of their books are memoirs and historical overviews of specific military events...
, Philadelphia, 2005 and also published in India); Allah's Bomb: The Islamic Quest for Nuclear Weapons (Lyons Press, New Haven, 2007) and How South Africa Built Six Atom Bombs (Ashanti, South Africa 2009).
He has written six books on underwater diving. His latest Dive South Africa was published in 2009 and he is currently finishing a major work on free-diving (out of cages) with sharks. Iran's Nuclear Option
Venter has completed a comprehensive book on African insurgencies titled Guerrilla Wars in Africa - Lisbon's Campaigns in Angola, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
and Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
which is also to be translated into Portuguese.
External Links
- http://www.litnet.co.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&cause_id=1270&news_id=61373&cat_id=180 Interview by Engela Neethling
- http://www.sandline.com/pdfs/ajventerprivatsingwar.pdf Sandline - Privatizing War
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plague/readings/venter.html Article - Jane Defense Weekly
- http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-152432823.html War Dog: Fighting Other Peoples Wars
- http://www.woodburnphoto.co.za/Commercial/DiveBooks/tabid/15871/Default.aspx Diving Books - Underwater Photography
- https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol49no4/Bookshelf_11.htm CIA Library
- http://home.intekom.com/southafricanhistoryonline/pages/people/mcbride-r.htm Robert McBride