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Conformément à la Politique de communication du gouvernement du Canada, vous pouvez demander de recevoir cette information dans tout autre format de rechange à la page « Contactez-nous ». 1 CANADIAN FORCES COLLEGE / COLLÈGE DES FORCES CANADIENNES CSC 31 / CCEM No 31 MDS RESEARCH PROJECT / PROJET DE RECHERCHE DE LA MED MILITARY FORCES FOR HIRE: IS THE WORLD READY TO PRIVATIZE PEACE? By /par Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lachance 29 April 2005 This paper was written by a student attending La présente étude a été rédigée par un the Canadian Forces College in fulfilment of stagiaire du Collège des Forces canadiennes one of the requirements of the Course of pour satisfaire à l'une des exigences du cours. Studies. The paper is a scholastic document, L'étude est un document qui se rapporte au and thus contains facts and opinions, which the cours et contient donc des faits et des opinions author alone considered appropriate and que seul l'auteur considère appropriés et correct for the subject. It does not necessarily convenables au sujet. Elle ne reflète pas reflect the policy or the opinion of any agency, nécessairement la politique ou l'opinion d'un including the Government of Canada and the organisme quelconque, y compris le Canadian Department of National Defence. gouvernement du Canada et le ministère de la This paper may not be released, quoted or Défense nationale du Canada. Il est défendu copied except with the express permission of de diffuser, de citer ou de reproduire cette the Canadian Department of National Defence. étude sans la permission expresse du ministère de la Défense nationale. 2 ABSTRACT Mercenaries have been a part of warfare as long as written history has recorded their exploits. Private Military Corporations, in contrast, are a relatively new 20th Century phenomenon. These firms are very much distinct from mercenaries as they are legitimate entities. Many Private Military Corporations are being used in an ever- increasing variety of tasks, including roles that used to be the sole prerogative of a state military force. In these days of violent civil wars and ethnic conflicts, the paper argues that the United Nations would be well served to hire a Private Military Corporation as its long- desired rapid reaction force. The paper contends that such a hired force would provide the United Nations with a robust, highly responsive and cost-effective peacemaking force to intervene forcefully in humanitarian crisis. While the paper concedes that there are some limitations to a hired rapid reaction force, it argues that these barriers are, indeed, surmountable. Finally, the paper concludes by proposing ways to regulate such a force. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract...................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents....................................................................................... 3 Glossary ..................................................................................................... 4 1. Introduction............................................................................................ 5 2. Definitions of Key Terms and Concepts................................................ 11 3. Mercenarism and PMCs: A Brief History ............................................. 21 4. Factors that Contributed to the Growth of PMCs .................................. 42 5. A Case for a Hired UN RRF .................................................................. 49 6. Advantages of a Hired UN RRF ............................................................ 55 7. Limitations to a Hired UN RRF and Proposed Regulations.................. 63 8. Conclusions............................................................................................ 77 Annex A: The Difficulty in Defining Mercenaries.................................... 81 Bibliography .............................................................................................. 84 LIST OF CASE STUDIES Case Study 1: PMCs as Proxies for Western Governments ...................... 11 Case Study 2: Sandline in Papua New Guinea ......................................... 20 Case Study 3: Executive Outcome in Sierra Leone................................... 41 Case Study 4: Executive Outcome in Angola............................................ 55 Case Study 5: The Case of Aviation Development Corporation ............... 62 4 GLOSSARY ADC .................................Aviation Development Corporation ASD ..................................Alternate Service Delivery BAH .................................Booz Allen & Hamilton BRS ..................................Brown & Root Services CIA...................................Central Intelligence Agency CPA..................................Coalition Provisional Authority CSC ..................................Computer Science Corporation DROC ..............................Democratic Republic of the Congo DSL ..................................Defence Systems Limited ELCS................................Empower Loss Control Services EO ....................................Executive Outcomes GSG..................................Gurkha Security Group ICC...................................International Criminal Court IPOA ................................The International Peace Operations Association KBR .................................Kellogg Brown & Root KZNS ...............................KwaZulu-Natal Security LIC...................................Low Intensity Conflict LOAC...............................Laws of Armed Conflict MEJA...............................Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act MONUC...........................United Nations mission in the Congo MOOTW..........................Military Operations Other Than War MPRI ...............................Military Professional Resources Incorporated NATO...............................North Atlantic Treaty Organization OAU .................................Organisation of African Unity PAE ..................................Pacific Architects and Engineers PMC.................................Private Military Company PoW..................................Prisoner of War PNG..................................Papua New Guinea RMA.................................Revolution in Military Affairs ROE .................................Rules of Engagement RRF..................................Rapid Reaction Force RUF..................................Revolutionary United Front SAIC.................................Strategic Applications International Corporation SAS...................................Special Air Service (UK) SOF ..................................Special Operation Forces UN ....................................United Nations UNITA .............................National Union for the Total Independence of Angola 5 When one looks to execute policy, it is presumed that it has to be done through a government agency. The rise of the private military industry, however, shows that this is no longer the case. Perhaps most important, they offer an often politically expedient policy privatization. This can be both good and a bad development.1 1. INTRODUCTION So many things changed in November 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. By the next year, the once mighty U.S.S.R. had vanished and only one superpower remained. The Cold War was finally over and one might have thought that the world had become a much better (and safer) place. Analysts even predicted that the so-called ‘Peace Dividend’ would bring new prosperity for all and that large military expenditures would no longer be required.2 Eager to divert monies into other programs, civilian leaders called for leaner and less expensive military forces.3 This eventually translated into millions of soldiers being laid off worldwide. In the meantime, while the superpowers were retreating from Europe and elsewhere, old simmering conflicts quickly reignited. Weak states that had lost the benefit of a strategic association with a patron were left powerless to stop seemingly interminable conflicts. Although it is true that the end of the Cold War produced a decrease in conventional warfare, there was also a significant 1 P.W. Singer, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003), 206. 2 Although analysts predicted that the end of the Cold War would allow significant reductions in military arsenals, they also foresaw that the removal of the “security blanket” would result in increased confrontations around the world. See Dov S. Zakheim, “From Bush to Clinton: A Sea-change for the USA’s Defence Posture,” Round Table, Issue 327, (July 1993): 10-20 and Fred C. Bergsten, “The World Economy After the Cold War,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 69, Issue 3, (Summer 1990): 97-113.