Feral Jundi

Friday, December 16, 2011

Industry Talk: The UN Is Looking For A Few Good Security Firms In Libya

Filed under: Industry Talk,Libya — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 10:51 PM

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

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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.

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Libya: The Largest Private Security Company In The World–GardaWorld, Makes An Entry Into Libya

Filed under: Industry Talk,Libya — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 12:32 PM

Now there is a story. The largest security company in the world….wait for it…..GardaWorld, is now in Libya. lol What’s next, an expeditionary task force from Walmart?

Seriously though, this is a cool little story about the beginning stages of reconstruction in Libya. Of course security for all of these business ventures is a top priority.  What I liked about this article though, is you can just picture the frustration, the wheeling and dealing, the planning, and the dreams of making huge amounts of cash as soon as the National Transitional Council (NTC) gets it’s act together.

By cash, I mean oil companies will be paying top dollar to get the oil flowing again and secure those operations. That, and the NTC is sitting on billions of dollars of Libyan frozen assets. Some estimates put that figure at around 160 billion dollars! So yes, there is some money out there, and the NTC is going to be investing into rebuilding their country and setting up the government, but also into things that will bring in revenue–like oil contracts. And to make the oil companies and all the folks that come with that happy, you need infrastructure and security to support that.

On a side note, I kind of get a chuckle when I read these stories, because I can totally tell what is going on. They interviewed these British contractors, and I noticed how these guys emphasized how ‘uniquely qualified they are’ for the job, compared to their ‘Guns R Us’ competitors? lol And it should also be noted that guys like this, love to tell journalists what they want to hear, just so they are written up in the story to be the best, most obvious choice for the job. That is my hunch on why guys like this would talk to journalists like that, and actually go on the record with their names and everything. That, and this story is in Bloomburg, a business journal and website.

Still, I give them credit for getting in there and making their moves.  It is not easy, and just like what Secopex learned, doing business in war zones has all sorts of pitfalls and complexities. –Matt

 

As Libya War Winds Down, Security Consultants Tout Iraq, Afghan Experience
By Sarah A. Topol
Sep 22, 2011
Want to do a deal in post-Qaddafi Libya?
Head to the Cafe Oya in the back of Tripoli’s Radisson Blu Al Mahary, where visitors without proper ID must check their AK- 47s at the hotel door.
Diplomats, reporters, businessmen, and representatives of the National Transitional Council, the rebel government set up in February, sit at a dozen small tables discussing the country’s volatile future through a haze of cigarette smoke. Conversation over strong coffee flits between the fighting around Sirte, who will hold positions in the soon-to-be-created interim government — delayed by bickering between Islamists and secular Libyans — and who gets the billions of dollars of still-frozen Qaddafi assets.
Never far from view are the hulking frames of security details, mostly British ex-military men, transparent wires corkscrewing out of their ears. Their taciturn shadows tail the diplomats and visiting members from the transitional government they protect.
Other security consultants are staked out at the hotel in search of the business that inevitably accompanies Mideast turmoil. One rebel council insider compares the consultants to flies buzzing around. Contractors are trying to gather as much information as possible about anybody willing to pay–security companies, oil companies, business ventures who are already here or want to start here.

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