Talk:Lionel Dyck

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:40, 4 August 2021 (UTC)

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• Comment or view
• Article history

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• ... that Colonel Dyck commanded in the Rhodesian and Zimbabwean armies before fighting as a mercenary in Mozambique in the 2020s aged 77? Source: The Zimbabwe Mail

• Reviewed: Lindy Cameron
• Comment: I wasn't going to do a drink-driving hook for BLP reasons

Created by The C of E (talk). Self-nominated at 07:26, 13 July 2021 (UTC).

• Hi The C of E, review follows: article created 13 July; article exceeds minimum length, is well written and cited inline to reliable sources throughout; I didn't find any issues with overly close paraphrasing from the online sources; hook is interesting, mentioned in the article and checks out to various of the sources cited; a QPQ has been carried out. It's good to go as it is but I note the Economic Times says he was 77 at the time of the Battle of Palma, that might add extra interest to the article/hook? - Dumelow (talk) 06:48, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

Sewa Security Services

The photo shows Dyck wearing a Sewa Security Services patch. Sewa is a private security company owned by the Wagner Group and sanctioned by the US and EU. Are we sure this is a photo of Dyck? Was he associated with Wagner in Africa? The photo was taken in CAR as part of a presidential protection detail. 2600:6C40:5600:1916:298F:F43C:3867:2234 (talk) 20:41, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

@Andrew Davidson: as the uploader, would you be able to answer this please? I have to say looking at the IHarare source and his appearance on CNN, I can see why there might be an element of doubt. When I wrote this and updated it after his death, I found no evidence of any Wagner links so the IP might have a point. Would you be able to double-check just in case please? The C of E God Save the King! (talk) 21:00, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

I have no personal or prior knowledge of this topic.

The picture does seem a good likeness with other pictures of Dyck. Details like the shape of the ear and nose seem to match but I notice that there appears to be a mole on the left cheek which does not appear elsewhere. And I've looked further at the provenance of the picture.

The picture is also used in a France 24 report where the caption is Members of the Close Protection Unit for Central African Republic President Touadera, composed of Russian private security company operatives from Sewa Security, are seen in Berengo on August 4, 2018. © Florent Vergnes, AFP

It also appears in The Economist: Why African governments still hire mercenaries. There's no caption there while that article explains how the Dyck Advisory Group replaced the Wagner Group in Mozambique.

My impression now is that the Zim Eye went looking for a good picture of Dyck, found the Economist article and assumed that the picture there was a picture of Dyck.

So, this does seem likely to be a case of mistaken identity. In any case, as this is an agency photo, we shouldn't be using it. And so I'm removing it from this article.

Andrew🐉(talk) 08:08, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

I have now replaced the image with File:Lionel Dyck 1990.webp from Peta Thornycroft (9 June 2020), "Anti-poaching squad drives insurgents out of northern Mozambique with snipers and helicopters", The Daily Telegraph. Andrew🐉(talk) 08:53, 3 June 2024 (UTC)