"The U.N.’s mercenary problem" Topic

"Last fall, a former mercenary with the South African firm Executive Outcomes published a comic book account of his involvement in the civil war in Sierra Leone. The war was one of the first times in that era that a private military company had had such an expansive role in a civil war. Their involvement and the interventions that followed had a major influence on the way the United Nations looked at peacekeeping.

Tom asked in his blog post about the comic book/graphic novel why the U.N. was portrayed as the villain. The U.N. had two big problems with EO's work. First, it was paying for it. More specifically, the international community paid for it. The International Monetary Fund had floated loans to Sierra Leone's government. It used the money to hire the South African mercenary firm. While EO's contract was a pittance by most standards, it accounted for a large chunk of the country's defense budget. This bought 150 advisors, whose mission blurred into direct combat.

The other problem was that they won. EO soundly beat back the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), complicating the peace deal that the U.N. was trying to broker. EO was enough of a threat that its ouster was a precondition for the rebels agreeing to the accord. Some Sierra Leonean military officers openly resented the presence of foreign advisors and quietly accused them of human rights violations, while privately colluding with the rebels. And, as everyone from EO predicted, the peace deal fell apart the moment they left…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

It's worth reading War Dogs book (Al J Venter) link

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

The UN has a history of problems with some of the forces it has deployed in country. Not sure why it is only a problem now that private forces have come in to play. Two possibilities might be first a decisive conclusion and second a lack of information management.

Sounds like Sierra Leone needs to allocate more money to its defense, and keep the mercs on retainer.

Asking for grants/loans/cash from the UN and others would seem like a good idea too.

Yea, I get the locals may not be happy about being shown up so badly by the outsiders, but if they'd been a bit better at their jobs, or interested in resolving the situation, it might not have been necessary to hire the mercs.

Perhaps the military leaders were accepting payments from the rebels the whole time, and thought they'd ensure their longevity by not really dealing with them effectively in the first place.

These PMCs/Mercs appear to be usually more effective than any of the other UN forces deployed. Or any of the local militaries …

E.g.

Some Sierra Leonean military officers openly resented the presence of foreign advisors and quietly accused them of human rights violations, while privately colluding with the rebels. And, as everyone from EO predicted, the peace deal fell apart the moment they left…"

I'm pretty sure no one suspected otherwise from the outside looking in …

This should be turned into a role-playing game with key battles played out using miniatures rules.