Here you go folks. If you have an office in Libya, or are thinking of setting up shop in Libya, definitely give UNSMIL a call when there. They reached out to me in an email which I posted below, and are in the market for some ‘good professional companies that can provide the mission in Libya with security services’.
As to the type of missions, who knows?
I also posted a quick story below on a few of the security companies already in Libya. The cool thing with this story is that it sounds like the new government has changed it’s mind about foreign security. Here is the quote:
Since Libya’s new leaders have yet to succeed in creating a national army to protect the oilfields, Western security companies will have to fill the gap.
The oilmen are paying top dollar for security so they can repair damaged fields and get oil production going again.
Several weeks ago, London’s HIS security consultancy was reporting that the NTC was unwilling to allow private security firms into the country. This, it said, “is acting as a brake on the country’s resurgent oil production.” That, however, appears to have changed as security slumped.
You are probably wondering why the NTC is changing their mind? Well now that Ghaddafi is out, a few of the tribes throughout Libya are fighting with the NTC over who controls what. So the NTC is not able to get everyone under the same tent for the sake of the country and their security forces are over extended trying to deal with it all. And oil production is directly impacted by that instability, which is not good for rebuilding.
Bottom line, western companies want and demand security for their technicians and executives, and the NTC is now allowing them to contract with security companies to keep the oil flowing. That oil is what will help rebuild the country, and private security is a big part of that process. Or until the NTC can get a handle on the security of the country. It looks like private security will also be a big part of the UN’s mission in Libya as well. –Matt
Dear Sir,
Thanks for your response below.
However, please note the United Nations in UNSMIL based in Tripoli and a branch in Benghazi is looking for good professional Companies that can provide the mission in Libya with a security services.
If your Company has a branch in Libya and you are is interested, kindly advice in order to provide you with a vendor registration form to register your company for bidding exercise.
Thanks; regards.
Anne Marie Hougaz-Laferla
Procurement Officer
UNSMIL – Libya
Tel.: 218-91-222-0094
E-mail: hougaz@un.org—————————————————————
Security firms hustle in lawless Libya
Dec. 9, 2011
As rival militias in postwar Libya wage turf wars in Tripoli and the interim government struggles to form a national army, Western mercenaries are moving in to fill the security vacuum in the oil-rich North African state.
Under the circumstances, it’s not surprising that the executive bureau of the National Transitional Council, striving to govern a country wracked by gunfire and political feuding, is giving these companies the time of day.
Western oil companies and other business groups hustling to get a piece of Libya’s oil and natural gas wealth want protection before they start investing large amounts of money in the new Libya following the defeat and ignominious death of leader Moammar Gadhafi in an eight-month civil war.
“Compared to former Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni’s rather hostile attitude, Libya’s new leadership is showing greater openness toward foreign private security companies,” observed the Intelligence Online newsletter, which has headquarters in Paris.
That may be because Libya’s new government has still not been able to establish control over the country even two months after Gadhafi was killed by rebel forces and his brutal 42-year dictatorship crushed.Heavily armed militias, which formed the ragtag rebel alliance that defeated Gadhafi’s forces, with a major assist from NATO, are spread across the country, determined to control their home areas and defy the NTC.
These groups still have vast stores of weapons in the Mediterranean coastal city of Misurata 130 miles east of Tripoli, the capital.
The government has given the marauding militias until Dec. 20 to come under state control or face the consequences.
The main focus of the security companies is Libya’s oil industry.
Oil is flowing at half its pre-war level of 1.6 million barrels per day and it will be some time before that improves given the security problems. So much of the rest of the economy is at a standstill.
Until international oil companies are guaranteed security by Libyan forces, they’re not going to send back the thousands of foreign technicians who ran the oilfields before the uprising against Gadhafi.
Since Libya’s new leaders have yet to succeed in creating a national army to protect the oilfields, Western security companies will have to fill the gap.
The oilmen are paying top dollar for security so they can repair damaged fields and get oil production going again.
Several weeks ago, London’s HIS security consultancy was reporting that the NTC was unwilling to allow private security firms into the country. This, it said, “is acting as a brake on the country’s resurgent oil production.” That, however, appears to have changed as security slumped.
Leading the pack is Britain’s Blue Mountain Group, which has been operating with Western companies in Libya for several months. It has received a no-objection certificate from the new Libyan authorities, Intelligence Online reports.
Foreign companies cannot work in Libya without a no-objection document, particularly with the state-run National Oil Co. and its joint ventures with Western oil companies.
The oil industry is a key sector for the security contractors. Many oil fields and facilities are in remote desert regions and are still prey to marauding Gadhafi loyalists and freelance gangs.
Blue Mountain took a major step forward in November by joining forces with a local outfit, the Eclipse Group.
Blue Mountain, like everyone else, is seeking to secure contracts with Libyan security forces to train the post-Gadhafi forces that the interim government is striving to establish.
Garda World, the international subsidiary of the Montreal’s Garda Security Group, has also obtained a no-objection certificate.
Several other British outfits are also operating, primarily for Western clients.
These include Control Risks Group, one of the pioneers in the private security sector; the Olive Group and AKE, founded in 1991 by Andrew Kain, a former officer in the British army’s Special Air Services Regiment that has spawned many private security outfits since the 1990s.
AKE specializes in protecting non-governmental organizations and journalists.
France is also represented by Gallice Security, run by Frederic Gallois, former No. 2 with the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, the special operations unit of the French armed forces and known by its French initials GIGN.Story here.