Al J. Venter (born Albertus Johannes Venter, 25 November 1938) is a South African war journalist, documentary filmmaker, and author of more than forty books who also served as an Africa and Middle East correspondent for ''
Jane's International Defence Review
''Jane's International Defence Review'' (''IDR'') is a monthly magazine reporting on military news and technology.
History and profile
''International Defense Review'' was established in 1968. It was published by Interavia SA (Geneva, Switzerland) ...
''. The surname is pronounced "''fen''-ter".
Career
Venter has reported on a number of wars in Africa, starting with the
Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...
in 1967 where he spent time covering the conflict with colleague
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick McCarthy Forsyth (born 25 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. 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 Alter ...
, who was working in Biafra for the BBC at the time. He has published two books on
nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as " Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Wea ...
, in particular from South Africa to Iran.
In the 1970s, Venter also reported in
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
while under the reign of
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...
. 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
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
.
In-between, Venter cumulatively spent several years reporting on events in the Middle East, fluctuating between
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and a beleaguered
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
torn by factional Islamic/Christian violence. He was with the Israeli invasion force when they entered
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
in 1982. From there he covered hostilities in
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
, the
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
,
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
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, coordina ...
, the
South African Border War
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...
,
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
the
Congo as well as
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea ( pt, Guiné), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Gu ...
, which resulted in a book on that colonial struggle published by the Munger Africana Library of the California Institute of Technology.
In 1985 Venter made a one-hour documentary that commemorated the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. He also spent time in
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
with the US Army helicopter air wing in the early 1990s, three military assignments with the mercenary group
Executive Outcomes
Executive Outcomes is a private military company (PMC) founded in South Africa in 1989 by Eeben Barlow, a former lieutenant-colonel of the South African Defence Force. It later became part of the South African-based holding company Strategic Res ...
(
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
and
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
) and a Joint-STAR mission with the United States Air Force over
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
. More recently, Venter was active in Sierra Leone with South African mercenary pilot
Neall Ellis
Neall Ellis is a South African military aviator and mercenary. Raised in Bulawayo, he joined the South African Air Force after a brief stint in the Rhodesian Army. As a helicopter pilot he was awarded the Honoris Crux decoration in 1983, and l ...
flying combat in a Russian helicopter gunship. That experience formed the basis of the book on mercenaries published recently and titled ''War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars''.
Venter served in the South African Navy from 1956–60, achieving the rank of Acting Leading Seaman. He has been twice wounded in combat; once by a Soviet anti-tank mine in Angola, an event that left him partially deaf, and by submachine gun fire. By his own account, by virtue of his reporting he is
persona non-grata
In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution.
Diplomacy
Under Article 9 of the ...
in Angola, Ethiopia, Iran, Libya, Syria, the former Soviet bloc (including Afghanistan),Tanzania, Zimbabwe.
Venter originally qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers at the
Baltic Exchange
The Baltic Exchange (incorporated as The Baltic Exchange Limited) is a membership organisation for the maritime industry, and freight market information provider for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts. It was locate ...
in London.
Publications
Venter has published over 50 books with a number of publishers. He wrote one of the first 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
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
's escalating guerrilla war in Angola during the 1960s and 1970s that eventually led to the downfall of the government in the Metropolis. In the 1970s and 1980s, he found a wide readership with articles on Africa in England, the United States, and Europe, including ''
Soldier of Fortune'' (Boulder, CO), ''
Bulletin for Atomic Scientists'', ''
Middle East Policy
''Middle East Policy'' is an academic peer-reviewed journal on the Middle East region in the field of foreign policy founded in 1982, published quarterly by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Middle East Policy Council. Its current editor is Anne Joy ...
'', and Great Britain's ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'' and ''
Sunday Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'', and the short-lived ''Eagle'' magazine (New York, NY).
Venter 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
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
– 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 figure
Robert McBride found the book to be one of the most influential toward starting his political activism.
Venter has contributed to Britain's
Jane's Information Group
Jane's Information Group, now styled Janes, is a global open-source intelligence company specialising in military, national security, aerospace and transport topics, whose name derives from British author Fred T. Jane.
History
Jane's Informatio ...
publications for over 30 years. He 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
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
, he was reporting in considerable depth on nuclear, chemical and biological warfare developments in both the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. Venter subsequently wrote three books on related nuclear issues.
Venter has written six books on underwater diving. His major work on
free-diving
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breath-h ...
(out of cages) with sharks, was published in 2012.
Books
* ''The Terror Fighters'' (Purnell, Cape Town, 1969)
* ''Coloured - A Profile of Two Million South Africans'' (Human & Rosseau, Cape Town 1974)
* ''Iran's Nuclear Option'' (Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia, 2005 and also published in India)
* ''War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars'' (
Casement Publishers, 2005)
* ''Allah's Bomb: The Islamic Quest for Nuclear Weapons'' (Lyons Press, New Haven, 2007)
* ''How South Africa Built Six Atom Bombs'' (Ashanti, South Africa 2009)
* ''Helicopter Ace'' (
Casemate Publishers
Casemate Publishers is a publishing company based in the Philadelphia suburbs that specializes in producing printed military history books. They have published over 500 titles on military history. Many of their books are memoirs and historical o ...
, 2012)
* ''Shark Stories'', (Protea Boekhuis, 2012)
* ''Guerrilla Wars in Africa – Lisbon's Campaigns in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea'' (also to be translated into Portuguese) (Helion and Company, 2013))
* ''Mercenaries: Putting the World to Rights with Hired Guns'' (
Casemate Publishers
Casemate Publishers is a publishing company based in the Philadelphia suburbs that specializes in producing printed military history books. They have published over 500 titles on military history. Many of their books are memoirs and historical o ...
, 2014)
* ''Biafra's War, 1967-70 (Helion and Company, 2016)
* ''Battle for Angola'' (Helion and Company, 2017)
References
* Into Angola
External links
''Into Angola 1981-82''Interview by Engela NeethlingSandline – Privatizing War''Jane's Defence Weekly''
Diving Books – Underwater Photography
"World's Longest Hi Jack", has two clips of Al J Venter commenting on South African private military contractors advising Puntland police to resolve a ship hi jacking
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venter, Al J.
Afrikaner anti-apartheid activists
Afrikaner people
Afrikaner Roman Catholics
Living people
People from Kroonstad
People of the South African Border War
Roman Catholic anti-apartheid activists
South African people of Dutch descent
South African Roman Catholics
South African war correspondents
White South African anti-apartheid activists
1938 births