Who is He[]
In the 2005 film Sahara, General Zateb Kazim was known for ruling half of Mali after overthrowing the Malian president and allowing a company to dump toxins into the Malian River for profit, even sanctioning a blockade against the U.N. to prevent them from finding out the source of the toxins. He is also aware of the fact that the toxins would spread out to the Atlantic Ocean if not contained, which would result worldwide pollution across the oceans, but didn't care as he still wanted to profit out of it.
Reasons Why He Shouldn't Qualify[]
It may be quite clear that Kazim's actions are heinous enough to classify him as PE, but there is one scene that might suggest otherwise: as shown in the photo, following the rescue of Dr. Eva Rojas by Dirk and Al, Kazim was told of the event by the sole survivor who escaped the ambush that Dirk and Al caused resulting the deaths of five of Kazim's soldiers. As Kazim informed Massarde (the owner of the polluting company) of the ambush, the surviving soldier (who was sitting at that time) was wrecked with survivor's guilt and attempts to stand up to salute Kazim. However, Kazim calmly tells the soldier to sit down and recuperate from his trauma, showing some sympathy to the soldier by saying that he is a very brave man to survive the ambush and inform him of it. After that, Kazim voiced his frustration against Dirk and Al for killing his soldiers, furiously implying to Massarde that they were not amateurs and that they needed to be put down immediately.
It's quite clear that he was upset over the loss of the men that died (even showing the discarded badges that the survivor collected to cement the point), and that his sympathetic treatment towards the sole survivor seems to suggest he may have cared for his men, at least to an extent. Also, Kazim seems to hold a genuine friendship with Massarde, even reluctantly allowing the latter to close the polluting plant to avoid the authorities when Massarde pointed out that the toxins would spread out to the ocean if not contained. Also, during the final battle against the heroes, rather than risk losing more of his soldiers, Kazim instead tells them to hold their positions as he personally intends to finish the heroes himself by saying, "Hold your positions, secure the area. I must finish this." It's highly unlikely for a PE villain to care for the well-being of his forces.