Global Policy Forum

Work of Private Military Contractors Discussed at Congressional Hearing

By Jim Fisher-Thompson

House Africa Subcommittee Chairman Ed Royce (Republican of California) says there is "a role for private military contractors (PMCs) in attempting to bring stability to Africa," where traditional peacekeeping can no longer protect innocent civilians.

Answering skeptics who associate PMCs only with mercenaries, who formerly preyed on weak regimes, Royce said, "Many parts of Africa are in crisis, and we need to stretch our thinking" to include alternative security arrangements if old methods prove inadequate. Royce was speaking October 8 at a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing.

Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), stated that PMCs are increasingly taking up the slack in peacekeeping in Africa because Western nations are reluctant to commit their militaries directly on the continent. PMCs are their answer to a growing concern over how to meet peacekeeping and peace enforcement commitments in remote regions of Africa like eastern Congo and Darfur, he said.

Brooks, whose organization represents 14 firms that supply logistical and military expertise to governments and multilateral organizations operating in the Balkans, Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq, testified at the subcommittee hearing. The conflicts in Africa, he said, are putting thousands of lives in jeopardy, and a rapid response is critical. But, he explained, "the West, with the best-trained and -equipped militaries, is not in the picture." Some Western militaries, he said, are "a shadow of their Cold War selves, and their few remaining capable units are deployed more often to Afghanistan and the Balkans and rarely to peace operations in Africa. The U.S. military faces enormous demands from conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines and elsewhere."

At the same time, militaries from poorer countries charged with peacekeeping missions under U.N. mandates are often inexperienced, undertrained, and poorly motivated, he said. But there is an answer, Brooks told the House panel. And that is the private sector, which has proven "to be a willing and capable surrogate for absent Western military capabilities in African peace operations."

International Charter Incorporated (ICI) of Oregon was engaged at various times by the United Nations, the United States and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ferry by helicopter personnel, troops and supplies into and within Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria to support regional peacekeeping operations. Other PMCs were recently hired by the U.S. government to help clear landmines in Djibouti and Angola.

Brooks told the panel: "Some ... analysts warn of a 'new invasion of Africa' by 'modern mercenaries.' They are wrong. They ignore the stark differences between the infamous rogues of the 1960s and 1970s and the legal and ethical companies of today that do everything from demining to water purification to providing security for U.N. field headquarters and warehouses to training African peacekeepers."

Responding to Representative Barbara Lee (Democrat of California), who said she was uncomfortable with private firms providing the type of military security normally done by governments, Brooks said: "The [PMC] industry operates only under legitimate international mandates. IPOA members have agreed to abide by our own code of conduct [available online at http://www.ipoaonline.org/code.htm]."

"What is clear," said Brooks, "is that African institutions are better able to take over crisis management than ever in the past. We [PMCs] can work with these willing organizations to help build a strong peacekeeping capability for Africa at minimal cost and huge long-term savings."

Brooks said there are two PMCs already in Darfur, Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE) and Medical Support Solutions (MSS), which were working with African Union (AU) monitoring forces to prepare bases and set up logistics systems. The AU is proving to be an effective organization because it has shown "an impressive pragmatism and a real interest in addressing the continent's many conflicts," he said.