The role of private military and security companies in african conflicts: with particular reference to conflicts in sierra leone and angola

Thesis Abstract

This thesis discusses the role and the involvement of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) in the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Angola. The involvement of PMSCs in the conflicts in question was fundamentally facilitated by state weakness and regime insecurity. Regimes in both countries played a crucial role in inviting foreign private military forces in the wake of rebellion against the regimes. The paper employed qualitative, explanatory and descriptive research methodology. The data gathering method utilized is secondary sources which include books, articles, official documents and other publications. The study’s main findings include first, the involvement of PMSCs in the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Angola challenges (at least in the context of weak states in Africa), the traditional realist assumption in IR that the state is the exclusive actor that enjoys monopoly on legitimate use of force; second, in African conflicts in general and in the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Angola in particular the involvement of PMSCs is linked with the exploitation of strategic mineral resources such as diamonds, oil, coltan and others; third, though PMSCs are hired by their clients to end conflicts, the study shows that such entities in fact escalate conflicts; fourth, the study revealed that PMSCs hugely undermine state sovereignty by deploying a competitive and parallel structures of force within a single sovereign jurisdiction. It is assumed in the traditional parlance in IR and political science that conflict is a political process and thereby falls within the public sphere. However, privatization of security removes conflict from the public arena as events in Sierra Leone and Angola have shown. Thus regardless of the claim that PMSCs fill the security void in Africa where public security forces are inept, partial, or both, the involvement and the role of PMSCs in African conflicts in general and the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Angola in particular is a symptom of state failure in terms of provision of security to the people, protection of territory and resources. It is therefore believed that privatization of security in the form of PMSCs surrogates the state in Africa and has deleterious effect in one of the core responsibilities of the state.