From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Oct 12 2009 - 09:03:04 EDT
Outsourcing Africa
US Army Africa soldiers in Djibouti, courtesy of Rick Scavetta, US Army
Africa, Flickr
US Army Africa soldiers in Djibouti
( <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en> cc)
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/usarmyafrica/3819689757/> Rick Scavetta, US
Army Africa/flickr
As the US attempts to strengthen military relations with key African states,
private military and security companies eagerly await lucrative contracts,
Jody Ray Bennett writes for ISN Security Watch.
By Jody Ray Bennett for ISN Security Watch
12 Oct 2009
_____
On 11 September 2009, the US Department of State (DOS) announced the
companies it has awarded to perform various services under the
<https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8c9852ce91f1fe6c3e7927
3f0b04e500&tab=core&_cview=1&cck=1&au=&ck=> AFRICAP Recompete program. The
$1.5 billion contract is divided by four at 375 million, awarded to
Protection Strategies Inc (PSI), DynCorp International, AECOM and Pacific
Architects and Engineers (PAE).
According to a <http://ir.dyn-intl.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=411614>
DynCorp press release, the companies that have been awarded the new AFRICAP
(Africa Peacekeeping) contract will "provide training and advisory services,
equipment procurement, logistical support services, and construction
services to African countries."
However, when the DOS posted the contract last year through the US
government's
<https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=4fbad7bde428a5595aca7b
fe3cdbc02d&tab=core&_cview=1> Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website,
it explained that because the new AFRICAP program "encompasses logistics
support, construction, military training and advising, maritime security
capacity building, equipment procurement, operational deployment for
peacekeeping troops, aerial surveillance and conference facilitation,"
potential contractors would be required to "possess a broad range of
functional regional expertise and logistics support capabilities [with the
intent] to have contractors on call to undertake a wide range of diverse
projects, including setting up operational bases to support peacekeeping
operations in hostile environments, military training and to providing a
range of technical assistance and equipment for African militaries and peace
support operations."
The AFRICAP synopsis also stated that the contracts will be "implemented in
countries throughout the African continent, as designated by the DOS."
Currently, the DOS is engaged with programs involving conflict resolution
and stability in
<http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/US_Uganda_to_discuss_military_
cooperation_80478.shtml> Sudan, the
<http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=2940> Democratic Republic of
Congo, <http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/10-1> Somalia,
<http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0411/p07s03-woaf.html> Liberia,
<http://www.cocorioko.net/national/1656-africom-commander-general-william-wa
rd-visits-sierra-leone> Sierra Leone, the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU). Branches of the US military are
currently <http://www.usaraf.army.mil/mission.html> forging military
relations throughout the African continent, with the exception of Egypt,
through the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Africa_Command> US
Africa Command (AFRICOM).
A historical critique
While <http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/02/one-billion-for/> some view
the development of the AFRICAP contracts and the role of US military
contractors on the African continent as a new, industry insiders,
specifically those who have supplied logistics support worldwide, claim they
have been <http://thethunderbird.ca/2008/02/13/outsourcing-peacekeepers/>
anticipating this opportunity for over a year.
"On the African continent, the U.S. military used government contractors as
early as 1941, when the United States was providing support to Allied forces
(British and Commonwealth) during the Second World War through the
Lend-Lease Act. Later, during the Egypt-Libya Campaign (1942-43), U.S.
government contractors provided support (including logistics, training,
advice - all of which are similar to AFRICAP) to the Royal Air Force and
America's nascent U.S. Army Air Forces, which eventually joined in the fight
directly against German and Italian forces in and around North Africa,"
Donovan C Chau, PhD, Professor of Political Science at California State
University, San Bernardino, told ISN Security Watch.
"The fact that DynCorp and three others were awarded the AFRICAP contract is
nothing startling, nor should it be perceived as such," Chau said.
Eight months after the US invasion of Iraq, the then-deputy assistant
secretary of defense for African affairs, Theresa Whelan,
<http://www.defenselink.mil/policy/sections/policy_offices/isa/africa/IPOA.h
tm> gave a speech at a dinner hosted by the International Peace Operations
Association (IPOA), the trade association that represents the industry. In
the speech, Whelan gave brief accounts of civilian and private support in
missions throughout the African continent and briefly outlined the
advantages and disadvantages of contractor utilization in such military
operations.
The activities of such private companies on African soil have not gone
without critique, even from African leaders. While proponents of public
diplomatic efforts abroad have pondered whether the formation AFRICOM and
AFRICAP is a <http://mountainrunner.us/2006/02/practicing_effe.html> US
response to China's increasing role on the African continent, African
leaders have been
<http://mountainrunner.us/2008/02/africom_doa_or_just_bad_market.html>
skeptical and critical of a sudden American interest in Africa, especially
when such interests come in the form of military relations that are
facilitated by private contractors.
"[It should be investigated] what European countries are doing as far as
security-related government contractors on the African continent. The
colonial experience of countries like the United Kingdom and France offer
potential inside deals or, at minimum, close ties to the African political
and military leaders. The United States, because its lack of such colonial
legacy in Africa does not have such ties; thus, we could be providing
services to the wrong individuals or for the wrong reasons," Chau told ISN
Security Watch.
The Afri-contractors
The four companies that have been awarded the work outlined in the AFRICAP
provisions are well known throughout the private military, security and
defense industries and enjoy strong connections with the Washington
political establishment.
Founded in 1955 as a real estate and architecture firm,
<http://www.paegroup.com/> Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE) was
purchased in 2006 and became a subsidiary company of Lockheed Martin, a top
US defense contractor. PAE hires personnel for civilian police (CIVPOL)
service: "In some missions, including Kosovo and East Timor,
<https://www.paecivpol.com/default.asp> CIVPOL are both serving as the
interim police force and helping to build new police services from the
ground up. Elsewhere, like Bosnia-Herzegovina, CIVPOL are mentoring and
advising officers in the reformed police service. The U.S. sends a
contingent of police officers from all over the country to selected missions
to further U.S. foreign policy goals."
PAE currently has
<https://www.paecivpol.com/civ_main.asp?pg=civ_missions.asp&mnu=5> missions
in Haiti (UN), Liberia (UN), Lebanon (non-UN) and Afghanistan (non-UN). The
company also provides "operations and maintenance" at
<https://www.pae-moscow.com/> US Embassies in Moscow and Beijing and a hosts
of <https://www.pae-iraq.com/about_jobcategories.asp> logistical support
services throughout Iraq, <http://www.pae.co.jp/Results/Hiroo/> Japan and
<http://www.pae.com.sg/> Southeast Asia.
Perhaps the most well known of the four companies is Dyncorp, often cited as
one of the 'Big Three' private military and security companies situated in
Iraq alongside Blackwater and Triple Canopy. The company continues to
provide a litany of aviation, infrastructure development, security and
logistics services to governments and other military and defense contractors
while fighting off negative press involving its role in sex trafficking,
fraud and other controversies surrounds is activities in coca eradication in
Colombia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AECOM> AECOM is advertised as the world's
largest engineering and architectural design firms that
<http://www.aecom.com/MarketsAndServices/38/73/index.jsp> works to "assist
regions in need of democracy, governance, humanitarian, and other support
[including] assistance with public administration, municipal finance,
political transition, humanitarian response, and peace building." It owns at
least <http://www.aecominterdev.com/About/38/77/index.jsp> 17 other
companies worldwide that it
<http://www.aecom.com/MarketsAndServices/38/74/index.html> uses to provide
everything from airport design and management, mining planning and design,
security and force protection and water and natural resource supply and
development. In 2007, it added a
<http://pr.aecom.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=211994&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1013591&hi
ghlight=> former US government cabinet member and other highly specialized
engineers and businesses moguls to its board.
Finally, and perhaps the least known of the four companies, is
<http://www.protectionsi.com/index2.html> Protection Strategies, Inc (PSI),
the newest and perhaps smallest company of the four. According to its
website, the president and CEO was a former translator in the US Marines,
has performed various activities as a police officer, private security guard
and most recently <http://www.protectionsi.com/psi-overseas.html>
consultancy service for the US government and other private entities. Its
<http://www.protectionsi.com/contracts.html> current contract profile
includes work with the US Department of Energy, the National Nuclear
Security Administration, Department of State International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement, the US Coast Guard and internal security services throughout
Iraq.
_____
Jody Ray Bennett is a freelance writer and academic researcher. His areas of
analysis include the private military and security industry, the
materialization of non-state forces and the transformation of modern warfare
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