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Subcontracting military power: The privatisation of security in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa

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Under the Counter and over the Border

Abstract

This article seeks to establish a clear difference between the classical view of mercenaries as hired guns and the more recent, business oriented, phenomenon of private security companies. The limitations of the definitions currently used in international law will be explored and their impact on the control of private military forces assessed. The article will then go on to identify the particular circumstances existing in Africa that provide such a fertile environment for the operation of private security companies. The activities of Executive Outcomes and Sandline International Ltd will be used as case studies, particularly their operations in Sierra Leone. Their corporate connections will be highlighted, especially their links to mineral extraction companies, and how these are used to finance their operations by the host countries. Finally, recent attempts to legislate to control the activities of these companies are examined.

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Notes

  1. Of the recent literature, the most useful general overviews are: Thomas K. Adams, “The New Mercenaries and the Privatization of Conflict”, Parameters (US Army War College Quarterly) Summer 1999. Accessible at; http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/parameters/99/sum mer/adams.htm; David Isenberg, “Soldiers of Fortune Ltd: A Profile of Today’s Private Sector Corporate Mercenary Firms”, paper for the Center for Defense Information, Washington, DC, November 1997, accessible at: http://www.cdi.org; David Shearer, “Private Armies and Military Intervention”, Adelphi Paper 316 (Oxford, Oxford University Press/International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1998).

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  4. Enrique Ballesteros, United Nations Special Rapporteur, “Report on the question of the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self determination”, United Nations Document E/CN.4/1998/31, 27.1.98, paras 67–92.

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  5. Ibid.

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  6. Britain still recruits for the Royal Gurkha Rifles in Nepal and many nationalities are to be found within the ranks of the French Foreign Legion.

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  7. The Foreign Legion has been heavily involved in many of France’s military interventions in Africa, particularly in Chad and more recently in Rwanda in 1994.

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  19. Ibid.

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  32. See, Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, Sierra Leone, 2nd Report Session 1998–99, HC-116, http://www.parliament.the-statiooffice.co.uk/pa/cml99899/cmsel

  33. See Isenberg, “Soldiers of Fortune Ltd”; Enrique Ballesteros, “Report on the question of the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self determination”, United Nations Document E/CN.4/1999/11, 13.1.99.

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  34. Francis, “Mercenary Intervention in Sierra Leone”, p. 327.

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  35. Ballesteros, E/CN.4/1999/11, para. 27.

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  37. Enrique Ballesteros Report on the question of the use of mercenaries as a means of violat-ing human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self determination. United Nations Document A/54/326 7/9/99. Paragraph 52.

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  38. Ibid, para. 73.

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  39. Ibid, para. 66.

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  40. Ibid, para. 62.

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  41. Regulation of Foreign Military assistance Bill, South African Ministry of Defence (B54–97), para 6.

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  43. Ibid.

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  44. Ibid. See also, “Double edged Sword: The case for a pragmatic assessment of mercenary forces”, The Times, 5.5.98.

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  46. Ibid.

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  47. Ibid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of International Studies and Law, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK

    Gerry Cleaver

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  1. Gerry Cleaver
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, UK

    Mark Phythian

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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Cleaver, G. (2000). Subcontracting military power: The privatisation of security in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Phythian, M. (eds) Under the Counter and over the Border. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9335-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9335-9_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5569-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9335-9

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