Investigating the Foreign Mercenaries in DRC Congo
A close look at Horatiu Potra and his exploits in the Heart of Africa.
Recently, a number of western diplomats expressed their fear about ‘Eastern European-looking’ mercenaries appearing in DRC Congo. They were sighted on the tarmac of Goma International Airport, apparently protecting the landing-strip against the advances of fighters belonging to the March 23 movement.
Local rumor has it that the men are employees of an infamous Romanian ex-legionnaire, who runs his own private military company.
Meet the ex-legionnaire from Romania
Unlike other private military contractors -who usually prefer to operate in the shadows- Horatiu Potra does not seem to hide. His company named ‘Asociatia RALF’, openly maintains an official website.
RALF’s services include the protection of personalities and sensitive areas and the training of (body)guards.
A volume of pictures portray Potra as a traveling business-man; always armed and ready for action. The photo-albums reveal interesting information about the locations of his clients. Various photo’s are easily geolocated, not requiring more than zooming-in on specific details. These include, but are not limited to: The Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Jordan and Ghana.
Spotted in Congo
On the 2nd of Januari, a picture appeared online, portraying Horatiu Potra posing besides two soldiers, supposedly on a road near Goma.
One week later, on the 9th of Januari, German newspaper Taz reported on the possible presence of Potra and his men in the city of Goma. The article quotes an employee of Congo’s immigration authorities.
“An employee of Congo’s immigration authorities at the airport in Goma assures the taz: When the white military arrived on December 22, he stamped passports from Romania in a Boeing 737 chartered by the Romanian airline Hello Jets.”
Historical flight-data provided by Flightradar24 corroborates with this statement.
On its way back to Romania, the Boeing 737 first flew to Larnaca, before completing the final leg to Bucharest.
A fully booked hotel
The ‘Mbiza Hotel’ is located close to Goma International Airport. Rated with 3/5 stars on TripAdvisor, a former visitor remarks that it is a pleasant place to stay. “A good hotel near to the town.”
According to Taz, the hotel currently serves as a base for foreign military personel and is fully booked by these men.
The entrance area is closely guarded by soldiers from the Congolese Presidential Guard. They confirm that the entire hotel had been rented by foreigners for a longer period of time. “It’s now the headquarters of the whites,” explains a soldier at the entrance, but he doesn’t want to give any more information.
Taz
Various online booking platforms seem to confirm this claim. Beside Mbiza’s own website, Booking.com, Booked.com and TripAdvisor also state that not a single room is available.
Trying different arrival and check-out dates does not lead to a different result. The hotel appears to be fully booked for the rest of the year.
To be continued
The second part of this investigation will focus on specific operations that are conducted by Asociatia RALF and rumors about a connection to Russian-based PMC Wagner.
