Africa « Feral Jundi

Friday, April 13, 2012

Maritime Security: South Africa Ponders Armed Guards Aboard Merchant Ships

Anyone that has followed the legal show in South Africa towards private security should take note of this one. I was sickened by SA’s treatment of the brave contractors that went to Iraq or Afghanistan. Men were killed and wounded in these wars, and the professionalism and dedication they presented was awesome. They should have been celebrated for their service, and not demonized.

With that said, I think this latest news about SA re-evaluating the value of such men is good news. These veterans in SA would do a fantastic job of defending merchant ships. Not only that, but SA is strategically situated on the continent to take advantage of this market.

From providing floating armories to providing training, SA is in a position to certainly be of value to the industry. So I hope they do work out the legalities and allow armed guards on boats. We will see…

Another point I wanted make with this post, is the Enrica Lexie incident, where Italian Marines posted on this merchant vessel shot and killed some innocent fishermen thinking they were pirates. It has caused quite the stir between India and Italy.

What I wanted to point out was that this was a military detail, and not a private security force. With military details, a ship’s captain really has no say so on what they do–they are military, following the orders of their command. With PSC’s, a ship’s captain calls the shots, and if that PSC doesn’t like it, the ship owners contract the services of another PSC. That is one of the key advantages with private versus public.

Also, Admiral Nirmal Verma conveniently removes this distinction in his commentary about this incident. That he forgot to mention that this was a ‘military detail’ that did this, and not a PSC.

With that said, eventually a PSC will have an accident. It is bound to happen and when it does, you will certainly see the opposition to private security on vessels use this as a reason why we should not have armed guards on boats. It is the typical knee-jerk reaction of such incidents, and we need to get prepared for it.

This is the floating iceberg of maritime security, and I think it would be prudent for groups like SAMI or BIMCO to have a discussion about how this can be best mitigated. I think all ship owners are watching the Enrica Lexie incident and thinking, what would happen if my guards shot and killed some innocent fishermen in a similar horrible mistake? What is the plan? Or do you just operate on ‘hope and prayers’ that it won’t happen…..?

Of course everyone is working on ensuring this does not happen. Standards and codes of conduct are being produced and signed by folks all over the world. But what is important to note is that we are still humans. We make mistakes and things can go wrong, despite all of the training and all of the rules/laws. So there should be consideration by all parties as to how best to deal with this reality. Talk with the lawyers, talk with those who have suffered such consequences, and learn from these nightmare scenarios on how best to navigate them. Be prepared as they say….-Matt

SA ponders armed guards aboard merchant ships
By Dean Wingrin
Thursday, 12 April 2012
South Africa has been asked to grapple with the question of how to deal with armed guards aboard civilian ships at sea.
In her keynote address at the opening of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium in Cape Town yesterday, Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, stated that a number of European countries had approached South Africa with the request that South Africa assist the armed guards that provide anti-piracy protection aboard merchant ships off the east coast of Africa.
“We would like to be advised by yourselves on the ethics and viability of this,” Sisulu asked the Symposium.
Speaking to reporters after her address, Sisulu said that the world was turning to providing onboard security to protect their vessels against piracy. As a result, South Africa was required to grapple with this issue and give it the go-ahead.
“But,” Sisulu continued, “there is a need for us in the South African context that we may be required to allow replenishment for those people who provide security onboard the ships. Now I do know that there is an ethical matter, on whether or not (civilian) ships (can) carry armed people.“

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Industry Talk: FBO News– US Trade And Development Agency ‘Definitional Missions’, Libya

Filed under: Africa,Industry Talk,Libya — Tags: contractors, definitional mission, energy security, FBO, Libya, Strategy, USTDA — Matt @ 12:39 PM

Man, they should have done this awhile back. But this is cool none the less. Libya has the money and has plenty of reconstruction projects that companies can assist in. So this is great that the USTDA is making this happen.

Now of course the NTC is still trying to get everyone under the same tent and they will be dealing with internal issues for awhile. But as life normalizes throughout the country and services/jobs are brought back into the fold, then perhaps people will have better things to do than fight amongst each other.

On another note is the strategic use of contractors or private industry. The solicitation even mentions this. Check it out.

The Libyan sectors targeted for review under the new USTDA initiatives are: (1) Oil and Gas; (2) Power Generation; (3) Transportation, and: (4) Information and Communications Technology.
USTDA’s stated purpose behind the sector evaluations is to increase “strategic opportunities for the utilization of U.S. goods, services, and technologies as the country rebuilds its economy…”

‘Oil and gas’ is of utmost strategic importance to the west, and especially Europe. So hemming up those other sectors are key to supporting this oil and gas sector. It’s a little hard for engineers to drive out to the plant, if the roads suck or they can’t make a phone call to arrange a meeting as an example. All of these sectors help support one another, and together they help in stabilizing the country and getting that oil and gas production humming along. Or at least that is the idea behind this stuff, and private industry is key to make that happen.

Not only that, but a country like Libya is perfect for today’s contingency operations companies. Especially as Iraq or Afghanistan continues to wind down. It is also great for US companies who are wanting to expand their opportunities into other markets, and Libya is prime for that. Below this first article, I also posted a quick snippet of all four USTDA solicitations on FBO with links. Check it out. –Matt

Obama eyes rebuilding business – in AFRICA!
Sending contractors to evaluate plans by National Transitional Council
By Steve Peacock
April 2012
The Obama administration is considering future funding of industry modernization ventures in Libya, and has proposed sending contractors to assess U.S. investment prospects.
Four separate “definitional missions,” or DMs, soon will be carried out by private vendors on behalf of the U.S. Trade & Development Agency, an independent White House entity.
According to planning documents that WND located via routine database research, USTDA has issued Requests for Proposals from contractors capable of identifying and evaluating industry projects that Libya’s National Transitional Council is proposing.
The USTDA-funded missions come at a time when the council is struggling to contain divisive conflicts between tribal and regional militias.
As WND reported last month, the NTC is threatening to use force to keep those opposing forces in check, a move seen by some as necessary to avoid fracturing the nation.

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Friday, March 16, 2012

Jobs: Halliday Finch–Multiple Security Related Positions, Somalia

Filed under: Africa,Jobs,Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: Halliday Finch, Jobs, Maritime Security, Somalia, TFG — Matt @ 1:31 PM

Along with my prior post about Halliday Finch winning a major contract in Somalia, comes the jobs. I am not the recruiter for HF, and please follow this link if you would like to apply for any of these. Hopefully someone from the company can come up and answer any questions or fill in the blanks as to what they need. Good luck to anyone that applies. –Matt

Apply for the jobs here.

Fisheries Protection Officers (HF0111112)
Responsibilities typically will fall into two main areas: protection of relevant fisheries and enforcement of pertinent legislation. In regards to fisheries protection, a fishery officer will patrol wild sea fishery habitat, in addition to periodically inspect fishing vessels for adherence to fishing regulations.
The inspections will also serve as data collection for recording annual fishing harvests or documenting the impact of various aquatic species diseases.

Special Maritime Training Team (HF0111111)
We are looking to assemble an international team of 60 men who will recruit, train and deploy in an advisory capacity for the Somali Government in an anti piracy role. The candidates must have a Special Forces, Marine, or other military speciality.
They must have prior experience of training men in Africa and a proven track record of success at doing so. Language ability is a bonus. Ideal Candidates would be from UK, US, EU, or South Africa but will accept the right man from any country.

Close Protection Operatives (HF0111110)
Protection operatives needed for tasks in Africa for VVIP and VIP principals. African Experience essential.

(more…)

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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Cool Stuff: Rhino Wars

Filed under: Africa — Tags: Africa, national geographic, poaching, Rhino Wars — Matt @ 6:36 PM

This is an excellent article and photo series that National Geographic put together. It puts into perspective what is going on with rhino poaching and how powerful of an offense industry this is. That horn has value, and criminals are willing to risk much to go after that horn. In turn, that process is leading to the destruction of the animal.

Hopefully a defense industry can come up that can compete with this, or the animal will be hunted into extinction. Or perhaps an offense industry is required to defeat this offense industry?

I should also note that elephants are being targeted for their ivory as well. (read about this slaughter of elephants in Cameroon) Asia is creating such a strong demand for all of this stuff, and as places like China become more wealthy, then the buyers with money will only increase. This is a very unique war indeed, and it will definitely take extreme measures to stop it. –Matt

Rivaling the price of gold on the black market, rhino horn is at the center of a bloody poaching battle.

Rhino Wars
March 2012
By Peter Gwin
The rifle shot boomed through the darkening forest just as Damien Mander arrived at his campfire after a long day training game ranger recruits in western Zimbabwe’s Nakavango game reserve. His thoughts flew to Basta, a pregnant black rhinoceros, and her two-year-old calf. That afternoon one of his rangers had discovered human footprints following the pair’s tracks as Basta sought cover in deep bush to deliver the newest member of her threatened species.
Damien, a hard-muscled former Australian Special Forces sniper with an imposing menagerie of tattoos, including “Seek & Destroy” in gothic lettering across his chest, swiveled his head, trying to place the direction of the shot. “There, near the eastern boundary,” he pointed into the blackness. “Sounded like a .223,” he said, identifying the position and caliber, a habit left over from 12 tours in Iraq. He and his rangers grabbed shotguns, radios, and medical kits and piled into two Land Cruisers. They roared into the night, hoping to cut off the shooter. The rangers rolled down their windows and listened for a second shot, which would likely signal Basta’s calf was taken as well.
It was an ideal poacher’s setup: half-moon, almost no wind. The human tracks were especially ominous. Poaching crews often pay trackers to find the rhinos, follow them until dusk, then radio their position to a shooter with a high-powered rifle. After the animal is down, the two horns on its snout are hacked off in minutes, and the massive carcass is left to hyenas and vultures. Nearly always the horns are fenced to an Asian buyer; an enterprising crew might also cut out Basta’s fetus and the eyes of the mother and calf to sell to black magic or muti practitioners. If this gang was well organized, a group of heavily armed men would be covering the escape route, ready to ambush the rangers.

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Monday, March 12, 2012

Industry Talk: East Africa Hits It Big In Oil, Gas Boom

Filed under: Africa,Industry Talk — Tags: East Africa, gas, oil, private security, security — Matt @ 3:59 PM

Lately I have been on an energy security kick. There is a lot of money in oil and gas, and the demand is only going higher. Not to mention that things are not very stable in the middle east, so a diversification of sources is in high demand. So how does this impact our industry?

Well for one, security of these wild cat companies that are searching and drilling on land and sea for oil/gas need security partners. These companies are willing to take the risks because the money is there, and capable private security companies are there to help them get there. That last part is important to note, just because thanks to ten plus years of war, we now have companies in this industry who know how to protect people and things in war zones. And especially in war zones that are populated with jihadists….a particularly wicked type of adversary.

These jihadists are also targeting anything to do with the west, to include oil and gas exploration. I wrote about this in my prior post about oil companies being targeted by jihadists in Somalia. Today’s war veterans and contractor veterans know this enemy very well, and they also know how to set up the security of a site to deal with this type of threat.

I also wanted to bring up this quote as a clue to the potential in this industry.

Still, major oil companies are falling over themselves to grab a stake in East Africa, largely by buying out smaller wildcat outfits which made major strikes.
One of these is Cove Energy, a London-listed company. It put itself up for sale in January after reporting one of the world’s largest natural gas strikes in a decade, a field off Mozambique containing an estimated 15 trillion-30 trillion cubic feet of gas, more than Norway’s entire reserves.
On Feb. 22, Royal Dutch Shell offered $1.6 billion for Cove’s 8.5 percent stake in the highly promising Block 4. Four days later Thailand’s state-owned energy company PTT Exploration and Production stepped in with a $1.7 billion bid. On Sunday, India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. offered $2 billion.

If you are a private security company that specializes in Africa, then partnering with one of these ‘smaller wild cat’ oil exploration companies could be quite profitable. Any contract with such a company should include a percentage of the profits for the operation, or when the company is sold to a larger oil company. More risk should equal more reward, and hopefully PSC’s are fully realizing the potential in these contracts.(and why not do a profit share with your security contractors doing the work and taking the risk out in the field as well? hint hint)

The other industry angle with this oil and gas boom in East Africa (and West Africa) is that piracy will be increasing as interest in Africa oil increases. There is just too much money floating around on the high seas for pirates or even jihadists to ignore. Hostage taking on land and sea will increase as well, and especially if it is oil executives or engineers crucial to the operation of these sites.

One tangent I would like to quickly expand upon is rare earth minerals. I have to imagine that Africa has sources of minerals not yet discovered, that will be vital for these growing and hungry economies of the west and east. All the stuff that goes into computers or phones, the magnets used in electric/hybrid vehicle motors or in weapons like guided missiles, or gold and silver, are all much needed by all of the industrialized nations of the world. The protection of these mining operations and the protection of the transport of this stuff, are all areas that this industry handles. Especially with mineral finds that pop up in war zones.

Interesting stuff and it is definitely an area of this industry that we should all be paying attention too. Keep your eyes peeled for energy security related work and for new discoveries. –Matt

East Africa hits it big in oil, gas boom
Feb. 29, 2012
East Africa is emerging as the new hot zone for oil and natural gas exploration, with major discoveries by Anadarko of the United States and Italy’s Eni in the Indian Ocean off Mozambique and by Norway’s Statoil off neighboring Tanzania.
Even war-wracked Somalia, further north in the Horn of Africa, is part of the drive for energy resources in the region, with a Canadian company, Africa Oil, expecting to start producing within the next couple of months in the northern autonomous enclave of Puntland.
But the big prize there is the offshore oil and gas fields that Somali officials say contain more than 100 billion barrels of oil, more than Kuwait. If that’s the case, Somalia, torn by war since 1991, would become the seventh largest oil nation.

(more…)

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