# The Next Mercenary Gold Rush: Sub Saharan Africa & Erik Prince



## longknife (Nov 26, 2012)

> by Brandon Webb
> 
> North Africa has long been a haven for Islamic extremists. Its chock full of violence, feuding fractional governments, and natural resources. This a perfect climate for American and European Private Military Companies (PMCs) that want to strike gold. Erik Prince, the founder of the PMC Blackwater USA (BW, Xe, and now Academi), is leaning forward []



Looking for a job? Want to use your military training? Check out Sub Saharan Africa & Mercenary Erik Prince | SOFREP for other links.


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## LAfrique (Dec 5, 2012)

longknife said:


> > by Brandon Webb
> >
> > North Africa has long been a haven for Islamic extremists. Its chock full of violence, feuding fractional governments, and natural resources. This a perfect climate for American and European Private Military Companies (PMCs) that want to strike gold. Erik Prince, the founder of the PMC Blackwater USA (BW, Xe, and now Academi), is leaning forward []
> 
> ...




Very funny (though true)! *It is only a matter of time before NATO members pitch their tents in preparation for further plundering in Africa, as usual. *


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## waltky (Jan 20, 2013)

Granny says, "Dat's right - we gonna hunt `em down an' drag `em outta dey hidy holes...

*Panetta: US Will Work With Africans to Fight al-Qaida*
_ January 19, 2013 &#8212; U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the United States will continue to work with Algeria and other African countries to fight terrorists. The secretary spoke in London after Algerian troops had launched a second attack against gunmen holding hostages at a natural gas facility, resulting in additional deaths._


> Information from Algeria was sketchy when Secretary Panetta and his British counterpart Phillip Hammond spoke to reporters Saturday afternoon. But Panetta said the best way to fight al-Qaida groups like the one in Algeria is to help local governments maintain control of their territory and deal with terrorist attacks when they happen.  &#8220;I think it's important that as we face this enemy we have to adapt the best efforts to be able to ensure that we do this effectively, and that involves working with these countries in the region to work with us, to develop the capability of identifying where they're located and the ability to conduct operations against al-Qaida,&#8221; he said.
> 
> Anti-terrorist forces can keep al-Qaida on the run, Panetta said, but no one should be complacent about the effort. He said the United States will not tolerate attacks on its territory, citizens or interests.  &#8220;Since 9-11, we've made very clear that nobody is going to attack the United States of America and get away with it.&#8221;  Panetta repeated that the United States will go after al-Qaida wherever it tries to hide.
> 
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See also:

*France Calls on African Forces to Take Lead in Mali*
_ January 19, 2013 &#8212; France&#8217;s foreign minister has called on African forces to take the lead in the military campaign against Islamist rebels occupying northern Mali.  But a highly anticipated meeting Saturday in the Ivorian capitol, Abidjan, featuring heads of state from the West African regional body ECOWAS ended without any major announcements about the African deployment._


> ECOWAS leaders have been meeting for the better part of a year to come with a plan to oust the Islamists from northern Mali.  The Islamists took control of the north not long after a military coup in the landlocked country last March.  But earlier this month, it was France that intervened after the Islamists began a push toward the southern capital of Bamako.  Although ECOWAS almost immediately promised to send troops of its own, few have actually arrived, and fundamental questions about the financing and execution of the African deployment remain unanswered.
> 
> At a press conference on the sidelines of Saturday&#8217;s summit, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said African armies would need to &#8220;take the lead,&#8221; but he acknowledged it could be weeks before they are in a position to do so.  "Now, we shall have in the coming days more and more African troops coming directly in Bamako and in different places in Mali," said Fabius. "And step by step they will deploy.  On the other hand, Europe has decided to train the Malian army because the Malian army is both committed and acting in the combat, but at the same time they have to be trained and equipped in a better way.  Step by step, I think it's a question from what I heard this morning of some days, some weeks, the African troops will take over," he said.
> 
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## emptystep (Jan 20, 2013)

The corporation colonization of the African continent is coming. 

If there is sufficient regulation it could be a win/win for everyone. If not it will look like another America.


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## Sunni Man (Jan 20, 2013)

The European Union and the U.S. will continue to support N. African pro western puppet dictators with weapons, money, and mercenary training.

In order to have cheap access to the regions natural resources.

While the average citizen lives in abject poverty.

Blatant colonialism continues unabated.........


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## emptystep (Jan 20, 2013)

You'll never guess who is picking up the tab. (Came across this while researching the DCR thread but never included it.)

Contractors to the Congo / ISN
1 December 2011
*Contractors to the Congo
*


> While security and defense contracting in Africa is nothing new, the awarding of another multi-million dollar contract by the US State Department to a controversial private security operation is perhaps indicative of just how thinly stretched the US military is becoming. This does not bode well for either oversight or accountability.
> 
> By Jody Ray Bennett for ISN Insights





> DynCorp&#8217;s contract
> 
> And so it follows: last June, DynCorp International - one of the &#8220;Big Three&#8221; armed security contractors that arrived in Iraq back in 2003 alongside Blackwater/Xe and Triple Canopy - announced that it had been awarded a State Department contract to provide training to the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While the details of the mission remain purposely ambiguous, the contract does specify that the task order was issued by the State Department&#8217;s Bureau of African Affairs, has a base time limit of one year with two additional option years and will focus on training junior to mid-level military personnel in functional areas such as communications, logistics and engineering.





> The problem of oversight
> 
> Some were skeptical of the State Department&#8217;s award. Whilethere is not enough government oversight of these companies and the NGO community has been weak in exposing these firms, Hillary Clinton&#8217;s State Department is giving its seal of approval via an export license for DynCorp to gain access to the DRC,&#8221; D.C.-based author and investigative journalist Wayne Madsen told ISN Insights.
> 
> It may be wondered why DynCorp was awarded another multi-million dollar contract after its Afghan &#8216;bacha bazi&#8217; dancing boys-and-drugs scandal in northern Afghanistan last year. However, the State Department will undoubtedly gain intelligence from DynCorp, as well as training and security enhancement aligned with its interests in the DRC.





> When asked why DynCorp had been awarded a contract back in 2004 to operate in the Sudan, an anonymous US government official told CorpWatch: &#8220;The answer is simple. We are not allowed to fund a political party or agenda under United States law, so by using private contractors, we can get around those provisions. Think of this as somewhere between a covert program run by the CIA and an overt program run by the United States Agency for International Development. It is a way to avoid oversight by Congress."





> The issue of oversight and accountability of private firms acting on behalf of the US Departments of State or Defense has long been the Achilles&#8217; heel of the private military and security industry. That a private company financed by taxpayers&#8217; money will be representing US strategic goals in a place like the DRC indicates the issue is far from resolved. While the expansion of the market has yet to be realized by the industry, time will tell if Africa provides the next boom for private military and security providers. Until then, DynCorp is leading the way into the jungle.



Wins AFRICAP Training Task Order | DynCorp International


> PRESS RELEASE
> DynCorp International Wins AFRICAP Training Task Order
> 
> FALLS CHURCH, Va. (May 31, 2011) - DynCorp International (DI) announced today that it has been awarded a task order under the Africa Peacekeeping Program (AFRICAP) to provide basic leadership training to personnel within the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
> ...


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## waltky (Jan 20, 2013)

An indepth look at Mali...

*Is Mali the next Afghanistan?*
_January 20, 2013  WASHINGTON  The war rages about cities with names such as Goa and Timbuktu, in a sparsely populated, mostly flat, dusty and landlocked country in northwest Africa._


> The combatants include a nomadic Berber people known as Tuareg, the French Foreign Legion and a coalition of al-Qaida affiliates who identify themselves with the Maghreb, the desert region of Northwestern Africa.  It sounds as if it could be the plot for a new Indiana Jones adventure. But those who study international terrorism say it would be a mistake for Americans to think of this conflict as anything but deadly serious. The war in Mali is the new front in the war on international terrorism.  Some U.S. officials have downplayed the threat, noting in congressional testimony that those involved in Mali don't appear capable of striking outside West and North Africa.
> 
> But in some ways, what's happening in Mali reminds experts of events in another little-known, faraway land in the latter half of the 1990s: Afghanistan. Back then, a fledgling al-Qaida, though already a known threat, was using remote terrain to train a generation of elite terrorist fighters. The threat of those fighters was that once trained, they were disappearing to await plans and opportunities to strike at the hated West.  "When we look back at Afghanistan, we wonder if we could have stopped what was to come," said Daniel Byman, a national security and terrorism expert at Georgetown University who served as a staff member of the 9/11Commission.
> 
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## emptystep (Jan 20, 2013)

I think the fundamental difference between Iraq/Afghanistan and many of these struggling countries is the existence of a legitimate government, even if it is hanging on by a thread. I believe we do have a viable mission in Africa. I believe that we should have boots on the ground. Partly because from all I have heard the UN Security force is ineffective at the best. I also believe it should be the model of how we trained the 391st. I don't believe we can go in there and think we are going to turn the situation around in a day. Given the examples of Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan I would say we are have not learned our lesson and I doubt we ever will. When I refer to those previous wars, and all the CIA puppet governments before, during, and after, I don't mean the experiences of the soldiers but the attitudes of the people who got us in there. 

One example of a need to understand the situation and that things might not be black and white on the ground is the example of the M23 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This group is a violent and ruthless organization whose aim is to overthrow the government. They are not a terrorist organization however and their grievance is with their own government. Basically it is a mutiny and they fight like they know how. They fight because they believe they were cheated out of power during the last election. Going in to simply wipe out this group is not a wise course of action. 

The drums of war are being beaten however. The four horsemen are restless. Such an example is an article which came out in the Boston Herald today.

U.S. policy makes mess of Mali | Boston Herald


> Indeed, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said: If we dont deal with these militant groups and terrorists swiftly and effectively, they will only pose an increasing threat in the future as they already have in Benghazi and now Algeria and Mali.
> 
> American and European officials have reportedly said these terror groups could use Mali as a platform for attacks not only in Africa, but beyond  which likely means at least the United States and Europe.


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## Votto (Jan 20, 2013)

Gaddafi had to go.  He simply would not play ball the way they wanted him to play.


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