African Church Information Service
15 January 2001
Johannesburg — Title: The Privatisation Of Security In AFRICA Author: (various) Publisher: South Africa Institute Of International Affairs (SAIIA) Volume: 130 pp ISBN: 1 - 874890 - 94 - 3
The complexity of resolving armed conflicts in Africa is presented by the fact that the United Nations UN, with all its resources has "scored a near zero through its peace keeping missions".
The question arises whether it is the complexity of Africa's conflicts or the failure, albeit the weakness of the UN, that has made re-stabilisation efforts fruitless.
While the 130-page paper back, The Privatisation of Security in Africa, does not offer a direct answer, its analysis presents the reader with a unique thought. Could there be an alternative to the UN's efforts of restabilising African countries affected by internal and (on a lesser note) external conflicts?
In five scholarly papers on the titled topic, the book does not only give an insight to the alternatives, but goes further into analysing how effective, efficient and legally abiding such alternatives can be.
Basing their analysis on what has already happened, the authors bring out the issue of private military companies (PMCs) and how they have impacted on the security situation in Africa. The authors look at how PMCs can be effectively utilised in Africa.
Should PMCs be utilised to re-stabilise countries affected by internal and/or external conflicts? How effective and efficient can the PMCs be in this role? What strength and weaknesses do they represent? What legal structures should be put in place to facilitate their official integration into peacekeeping missions in Africa and/or elsewhere in the world?
PMCs are basically what was formerly known as "mercenaries" a.k.a "Dogs of War" as per Frederick Forsyth novel. The now disbanded but allegedly active Executive Outcomes (pty) Ltd and Sandline International are among the PMCs that have "actively" participated in both destabilisation and restabilisation of African countries.
Greg Mills, the Director of SAIIA and John Stremlau, Professor at the University of Witwatersrand in their introduction write that as long as many African states hide behind the facade of sovereignty and the international community prefers to abide by the pretext, there will be a market for private security operations.
Alex Vines, a Research Associate at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom gives an insight into PMCs that have in one time or another participated in Africa as hired 'soldiers of fortune'.
For instance, the operations Executive Outcomes are highly detailed including its adventures in Sierra Leone, South Africa, Angola and Colombia. The company, whose revenue between 1994 and 1998 is put at US $55 million (other sources put it at between US $25-40million) was disbanded in January 1999 due to bad publicity and its high international profile.
In an interesting turn, it emerges that Executive Outcomes was only absorbed into the Sandline International corporate structure. Writes Alex Vines: "Sandline in reality is the successor of Executive Outcomes. Its management and personnel are largely the same, as is the personnel from which it recruits".
Sandline International on its part offers a range of products and services from systems procurement to combat operations. According to the authors, Sandline has undertaken at least six major (publicised) international assignments since 1993.
These include its debacle in Papua New Guinea in 1997 where its contract was worth US$36 million, part of the payment being a stake in the Panguna mine. The contract fell apart when the commander of the armed forces publicised the plan, which caused a military revolt.
"Sandline behaviour in Papua New Guinea was aggressive, pushing for business and advocating use of force. The prices it quoted were above market rates for the equipment. The consultancy fee were high, such as US$1,165 an hour and a cost price of US $35,714 per mercenary per month," writes Vines.
Diamond works, founded in 1996 is a Vancouver - based mining firm "that aspires to be a major player in the international diamond market". The company has strong links with both Sandline International and Executive Outcomes.
White Legions led by Christian Tavernier is another PMC that actively participated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) war in efforts to suppress the rebels just before the late President Mobutu Sese Seko was ousted.
Stability control Agencies (stabilco) based in South Africa also participated in the DRC war against the rebels. Stabilco was contracted in 1997 for US$300,000 by Kpama Borromidto Kata, at the time the Chief of Staff of the Zairean, now DRC army.
Stabilco has, however, closed down and its personnel are alleged to be working for Sandline International in Sierra Leone and the ECOMOG. Vines further states that PMCs have not enhanced stability or encouraged business confidence.
"Indeed, their poor human rights records, their lack of transparency, their engagement in arms transfers, their training in psychological warfare against civilians, their erosion of self- determination and sovereignty situation of crisis and their use of people with track records of human rights abuses does not bode well for the upholding of international war.
(This however differs with the opinion of William Showcross, the author of Deliver Us From Evil Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflicts".)
Writing in the last December 16-17 issue of the International Herald Tribune, he says: "Many Sierra Leonians yearn for the mid-1990s when a small mercenary force from South Africa, Executive Outcomes, drove the rebels out of much of the country.
Unlike Executive Outcomes, the UN force is neither equipped nor mandated to attack let alone defeat the rebels. Garth Abraham, senior lecturer, Oliver Schreiner School of Law, University of The Witwatersrand writes that regardless of the efficacy, or otherwise, of the legislation, what is required is a thorough reassessment of mercenaries and mercenarism.
"It is important to differentiate between varieties of mercenaries and mercenarism, not all which are deserving of condemnation and moral opprobrium," writes Abraham.
Jeffrey Herbst Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, the United States, maintains that the prospects of regulating PMCs are extremely limited. He notes the market itself will probably shape the industry profoundly as more companies enter the market.
Reviewed by Stephen Mbogo who spent December 2000 in Johannesburg participating in a writers' workshop.
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