MERCENARIES THRIVE WHERE LAW AND ORDER HAVE DEGENERATED
By Gordon Opiyo
The Standard, Kenya
March 26 2006
With the shocking allegations of Government protection of suspected
mercenaries, the big question is: What dealings does the State have
with such characters?
The Armenian Government has denied any link with either Artur Sargsyan
or Artur Margaryan. The two had earlier claimed that they are related
to the Armenian leader.
But the biggest worry is that the region the two come from is known
in international circles for producing specialised private military
consultants, better known as mercenaries.
During the Eritrea-Ethiopia war in the late 1990s there were
allegations that a former Russian Army colonel, who had been hired as
a mercenary, was ejected from an Ethiopian SU-27 fighter jet. Russia
disputed the claim.
During the Balkan war, Slobodan Milosevic is alleged to have used
mercenaries from former Soviet Union republics kontraktniki (contract
soldiers) to perform several atrocities. The kontraktniki issue came
up during the hearing at the International War Crimes Tribunal in
The Hague before the sudden death of Milosevic, two week ago.
The tribunal heard that in May 1995, a group of kontraktniki arrived in
the Gacko-Avtovac region in Serbia, at the invitation of the command
of the Herzegovina Corps, which intended to organise an international
brigade. The members of this ‘brigade’ (which actually numbered around
150 troops) wore one-piece, overall type black Russian uniforms with
black berets or flight caps. Most of their members were officers above
the rank of captain from the special units of the Russian Ministry
of Defence, who had deserted the Russian military.
The kontraktniki also featured during the war in Afghanistan, and a
number of them were involved in the transportation of cocaine.
In Africa, the use of specialised mercenaries is common in areas that
have a breakdown in law and order, yet has massive resources.
It is of great interest that the Artur brothers claimed to have great
interest in diamond business in the Congo – a rich country alien to
law and order.
Jeremy Harding, an editor with the London Review of Books, investigated
the role of mercenaries in the diamond and gold business in Africa
over a decade ago and came up with shocking revelations.
He discovered that many multinational corporations in gold and diamond
producing areas invested in private armies. The biggest private army
defending corporations in Africa was called Executive Outcomes. Many
of their recruits were former members of the 32nd Battalion of the
South African Army, the so-called Buffalo Battalion.
Executive Outcomes transformed itself into a big corporation doing
business with many African countries. They had a CEO Nick van der Burgh
who always defended their actions. Burgh always insisted that EO, as
they are known, only worked with legitimate governments to provide
specialised security and intelligence services. EO was involved in
protecting a number of diamond mines in Sierra Leone and Congo.
In August 1998 EO’s intelligence officer Rico Visser told South
African journalists that the Congolese President Laurent Kabila had
hired them to defend the strategic Inga Dam, south west of Kinshasa,
the capital city of Congo. Electricity from the dam not only powers
Kinshasa but is also key to the mining region of Shaba (Katanga)
in the south of the country.
Mercenaries have been doing booming business in war-torn
southern Sudan. There were claims three years ago that hundreds of
professional soldiers for hire were working for Arakis, a Canadian
oil company. Arakis had signed a billion dollar agreement to exploit
the Al-Muglad Rift Basin on the seam line between Sudan’s Arab north
and the black African south. Due to the security concerns, the company
was forced to hire professional soldiers to protect its investment.
The instability of post-war Iraq has also turned private military
services into a booming cottage industry. Private military companies
have found a lucrative market in post-war Afghanistan.
Now with the saga surrounding the alleged Armenian mercenaries
getting more complex – with one of them literally scoffing at Kenyan
authorities – it is difficult to get the exact connection of their
presence and whether they are mercenaries or business people as
they claim.
Kenya has one of the most disciplined and respected military force in
Africa. Before the raid on the Standard Group premises, the police
force was known for its discipline. The defiance that the CID boss
has shown the Police Commissioner has tainted the image of the force.
LDP leaders, Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka have claimed that
mercenaries were brought in to assassinate key political leaders.
The Government spokesman, Alfred Mutua has denied the claims saying
that the matter is still being investigated.
But Internal Security minister John Michuki still has a lot of
explaining to do, given that the hand of the Government is evident
in the protection and confidence of the Artur brothers.
If the minister could order an illegal raid on the Standard Group in
the name of state security, why is it so difficult for him to explain
the defiant presence of dubious foreigners openly breaking the law
he is supposed to safeguard?