Former military officers take centre stage at TRNUC hearing |05 February 2020

With the aim of gaining better clarity on the happenings in the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) during the years following the 1977 coup d’état, the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) yesterday met four former military officers. These were Commodore Paul Hodoul, Captain David Savy, Major Philip Lucas and Joachin Antoine.

The witnesses were called in to provide contextual evidence in order to help the commission assess various allegations made against the SPDF during previous sessions.

Paul Hodoul

Identified as a former commanding officer of SPDF, decorated naval officer, Commodore Paul Hodoul, was brought in before the TRNUC to provide some information in regards to the going- ons of the army.

At the start of his interrogation, the chairperson of the TRNUC, Gabrielle McIntyre clarified that no specific allegation on human rights abuse had been made against Mr Hodoul and that he was just there to provide information since he was among the firsts to join the army and was involved in the first recruitments.

According to Mr Hodoul’s testimony yesterday, he did not participate in the 1977 coup and had no idea it was going to happen.

Mr Hodoul noted that although he did not receive any prior military training, he joined the recently formed Seychelles army and received initial training conducted by Tanzanian officers.

He later also undertook a training course at a naval academy in Leningrad, Russia.

Mr Hodoul rose in the ranks to become chief of the SPDF navy and his last rank was that of a Commodore, a naval rank superior to a navy captain but lower than a rear admiral.

Mr Hodoul explained that the navy was actively involved in establishing the Seychelles economic exclusive zone (EEZ) and patrolling the Seychelles waters. The navy did not have much to do with soldiers on land, he added.

“I want to clarify that, under my command, nobody in the navy were made to do anything adverse,” he stressed.

The 76-year-old also noted that he was not in the country during the 1981 mercenary attack, since he was in Leningrad, but did witness the 1982 army rebellion.

Mr Hodoul also noted that he was quite outspoken and frank in certain situations such as when he saw a soldier being beaten excessively.

He explained he spoke out because he found the punishment not to be commensurate to the officer’s wrongdoing.

However he also said that he never witnessed anyone in the army being beaten by a rod as some complainants have stated.

“It is a shame that these deaths happened. It’s regrettable but I was never personally involved in these and I do not know who were involved.”

Mr Hodoul said that he was asked to leave the SPDF in 1992 when he joined the helm of SMD, a political movement which came to be after the reinstatement of the multi-party system.

In a letter which he wrote to President Albert Rene at the time, Mr Hodoul said the commander in chief had not provided him with an opportunity to choose between the SPDF and the SMD before firing him.

When asked how a member of the SPUP Youth League in the 1970s became involved in the leadership of an opposing democratic party in the 1990s, Mr Hodoul said: “Opposition had existed in the one-party system […] By 1985 the world had moved away from the rigid system of one opinion, and in Seychelles there were some of these people who were more open minded.”

He noted that SMD believed that the one-party rule had gone out of style; it had achieved what it could but SMD did not see it as the right future for Seychelles.

David Savy

Captain David Savy appeared before the TRNUC yesterday as a general witness because he had been identified as a member of the Defence Forces Council (DFC) and was presumed to have been a commanding officer in the SPDF.

However Captain Savy clarified that he had never been a commanding officer but had been an adjutant and a staff officer at the beginning of his army career.

As for the DFC, Captain Savy said that he was the secretary and his role was to take minutes of meetings.

He said that he joined government service in 1980 as a pilot and radar operator with the air wing at the Ministry of Agriculture. Then, he was still a civilian and hence an air captain not an army captain.

The air wing’s main function was the management of living and non-living resources in the EEZ.

Captain Savy recounted that, a few years later, Minister Ogilvy Berlouis decided to incorporate the air wing into the SPDF Air Force and the captains in the air wing were commissioned, morphing from civilians into army officers.

Captain Savy gave detailed accounts of his ranks gained during his years in the army as well as the many responsibilities he held, most notably deputy chief of staff.

He however highlighted that he never had responsibilities linked to Grand Police and only visited it once.

He was also involved in setting up a defence academy, with assistance from India, with the aim of bringing in more professionalism.

According to Captain Savy, a large number of officers in the SPDF platoons could not read and write, and instead of signing their names they would use their thumb prints or write an X.

“It was a very young army […] very easily influenced. Not being able to write and read did not mean that they were stupid, many of them had not received the opportunity to learn.”

Captain Savy also spoke of his stepfather President Rene, how he and his brother were taken hostage during the army rebellion and how he was able to warn President Rene of an attempted coup.

He gave the commission an insight into Albert Rene, the man he grew up with and stated that President Rene was not a man of many words, but he was a listener. He would weigh a lot of things and was a bright person.

“I was convinced that he would have been assassinated,” he said while adding that President Rene was a man of habit and hence would have been an easy target for those who were against him.

Mr Savy said that he felt unsafe at L’Exile and feared for the lives of his mother, grandmother and younger brother who lived there.

He also alleged that his stepfather was very angry at the death of Davidson Chang-Him.

Captain Savy further defended SPDF officers stating that there were a lot of good meaning people in the army.

“We were not murderers and killers, we were building a nation,” he said.

Captain Savy has been scheduled to reappear before the commission next week in closed session to testify on some information relating to foreign government involvement in Seychelles during the years after 1977.

Philip Lucas

As a former commanding officer and with his position on the DFC, Mr Lucas reappeared before the commission to provide a better understanding about the setup of the army and the roles he played.

Mr Lucas was among the first persons to be enrolled in the SPDF when it was first being set up as of June 5, 1977, and was a comrade until he was promoted as captain in November 1977.

“Yes, I was member of the DFC but I was not a commanding officer initially. I was based at the Bel Eau headquarters as a staff officer in the training department,” Mr Lucas explained.

“I served in this post up until late 1979 or early 1980 when I was asked to go to Pointe Larue for three months as a commanding officer and I stayed there until late 1985, October or November. At that same time, I was asked to open a training camp at Grand Police.”

Mr Lucas was further called by Mr Rene and was told that the militia was being restructured to directly fall under his responsibility and asked Mr Lucas for his help to manage the militia.

“He made me open a headquarters especially dedicated to the militia above the military headquarters at Bel Eau.”

According to Mr Lucas, his role in the council, as well as that of other officers, was to bring in reports from the military camps for the commander in chief (President Rene).

“DFC was a body which had an oversight role on the military camps; discipline standards, standards of the camp, personnel situations, finances, and any developments needed its go-ahead.”

“The council gave the directives because the commanding officers did not have the power just to do or construct anything; they are only there to deal with the day-to-day camp happenings[…]”

“If you wanted to buy a table or transport you had to go through the DFC.”

He became a member of the DFC in late 1977 and left the council when he was fired in 1986.

He said that he was forced to leave SPDF because he was suspected of having been involved in an attempted coup to overthrow Albert Rene.

Joachin Antoine

Joachin Antoine made his appearance yesterday to explain his role working with the intelligence unit at State House.

He was employed by the police force at first but then later transferred to the military.

Mr Antoine explained that his main role was to drive around and keep watch on people he had been ordered to.

A certain Mr Rosette accompanied him during this surveillance exercises in a State House-owned car with number plate S1122.

When asked who instructed him to spy on these individuals, he noted that Mr Rosette was given the orders and passed it on to him since he was only the driver.

Again, it was Mr Rosette who relayed any information gathered during the surveillance exercises, presumably to whomever had given the orders.

One of the persons they were keeping watch on was Alton Ah-Time, a known government opponent, who disappeared in September 1984 .

Mr Antoine said that at one point they were told to halt surveillance on Ah-Time and found out the following day after being given the order that he had disappeared.

Seychellois student Simon Desnousse and Miske Asher, a South African, who were said to have been killed while fabricating a homemade bomb, were also under surveillance by Mr Antoine.

A few days after he was given an order to stop surveillance, Mr Asher and Mr Desnousse turned up dead.

When asked if he did not find it strange that the people he was keeping watch on ended up dead or disappeared, Mr Antoine said that he did find it strange but that he did not ask questions.

Throughout his intervention, Mr Antoine kept stressing that he was not performing much security/intelligence as he was more focused on driving.

Nonetheless he noted that he went to Russia, Moscow for 6 to 7 months where he received training in security and surveillance.

Elsie Pointe