UN Mercenary Panel Asks of DPKO Use in Valencia & Congo, Somalia Still Murky

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 -- When the UN's Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries held a panel discussion Wednesday morning, listing forty minutes of questions and answers, it was assumed that for example the UN's use of armed guards in Somalia, so far left murky, could be clarified.

  But the Q&A was devoted only to member states, mostly for speeches. From the podium, it was claimed that all of the UN's uses of armed guards must comply with international law. Why then won't the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous answer if the Geneva Conventions apply to its impending offensive in the Eastern Congo?

  Rick Cottom of various UN staff unions said that in his experience, UN Security would rather be the one in the field, not paid outsiders.

  Lou Pingeot of Global Policy Forum asked why the UN Peacekeeping location in Valencia, Spain (the lawless establishment before its General Assembly approval Inner City Press covered at the time) uses outside armed security, and noted UN Peacekeeping's use of Saracen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  Saracen is now repackaged as "Sterling," as noted in the most recently Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group report. In Somalia, as Inner City Press reported, David Bax of the UN Mine Action Service is said to provide information to US intelligence through the shadowy PMSC Bancroft Global. Bax has been photographed tooling around Mogadishu with armed guards.

The UN's Nicholas Kay acknowledged to Inner City Press that "some of our guards are armed." How many? From which company? Denel? Where is the transparency? We will pursue this.

But Wednesday morning the interventions were all from member states. Indonesia spoke of being part of the Syria observer mission killed off by Herve Ladsous. The Free UN Coalition for Access believes minimal transparency requires disclosing who can ask questions, raised here. Watch this site.

   

After UN Stonewalls ICP on Use of Private Military Contractor Saracen, GPF Adds DynCorp & G4S

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 10, updated thrice -- Might a new report on the UN's use of private military contractors shake it out of denial?

  The UN's use of PMCs or even mercenaries became a subject of contention back in April, when the Department of Peacekeeping Operations declined to confirm to Inner City Press its use of the PMC Saracen Uganda, part owned by a relative of Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni.

  After several rounds of questions and stonewalling, Inner City Press simply published the contract information:

August 2010 SARACEN UGANDA LTD UGA CON/MON/10-085

Provision of Unarmed Security Services at Entebbe and Kampala
1-Aug-10 to 31-Jul-11 $170,685 MONUSCO

September 2010 SARACEN UGANDA LTD UGA
Security services $132,935 11KIN-200211 MONUSCO

July 2011 SARACEN UGANDA LTD UGA
Security services $144,648 12KIN-200059 MONUSCO

  Only after Inner City Press published this did DPKO's spokesman belatedly admit (and spin) it, writing to Inner City Press that:

"I have a response on the parts of your questions related to MONUSCO. On private security more generally, I am still following up. Question: Is MONUSCO using the services of SARACEN, a Ugandan private security company?

"MONUSCO contracts private unarmed security companies to assist in access control procedures in all of its compounds. Saracen is contracted by MONUSCO for these purposes at its base in Entebbe, Uganda."

  Inner City Press noted that while DPKO did not provide that actual contract information which Inner City Press published, this information says Saracen is under UN contract in Kampala as well. Inner City Press then awaited the response on "private security more generally."

But soon thereafter DPKO chief Herve Ladsous said publicly he would not answer any more Inner City Pressquestions due to critical coverage. And DPKO has in fact provided no information on this since.

Now comes a detailed report from Global Policy Forum, which recounts not only Saracen and MONUSCO, but the use of DynCorp by UNOPS and UNDP. (Click here for Inner City Press' so-far eight-part series on UN and UNDP corruption in Afghanistan). 

  GPF also cited G4S, which the UN Global Compact has allowed to join, telling Inner City Press its operations are "legal."

One hopes the GPF study will cause the UN to reform, or at least or relately that Ladsous, who has proved resistant to criticism and questions for example about his proposal that DPKO should use drones, will at least read it. 

As EU Proposes to Shoot 2 Km Into Somalia, No Comment on Halliday Finch

By Matthew Russell Le

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- When the European Union held a briefing Friday about its naval force off Somalia, by Operation ATALANTA commander Admiral Duncan Potts, it seemed the time to ask about reported EU plans to pursue pirates, at least by air, up to two kilometers inland.

  The German media Die Welt has reported:

"Last Wednesday, the [German] Federal Cabinet approved a mandate [that] states that 'German forces can go inland from the beach for a maximum of 2,000 meters to reach logistics sites set up by the pirates.' German helicopters can thus engage in air attacks against pirate boats, weapons or fuel storage installations up to 2 km in from the beaches."

  But when Inner City Press asked Potts about this proposal, he said Die Welt's reporting was "incorrect." He told Inner City Press, "I wouldn't focus too much on the two kilometers. We want to create the perception in the mind of the pirates that they can no longer act with impunity from beaches of Somalia. It's about the perception of impunity rather than a kinetic effect."

  But it still seems that the way the EU wants to "create this perception" is to shoot guns, from helicopters, up to two kilometers inside Somali territory.

  Afterward Somalia's Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that this is a problematic proposal, that their might be people hurt who are not pirates. He and his counterpart from Ethiopia came to the session, but both perceived it to be for journalists or other EU diplomats only. 

  To their credit they ultimately spoke up, and stayed afterward questions Potts, who answered by referring to a letter from Sheik Sharif to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Will "General" Ban Ki-moon give his blessing to these helicopter strikes inside Somalia?

Already, Ban's UN is using the private military contractor Saracen for its Congo mission's operations in Uganda. (The Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous, who had also proposed the UN's use of drones, had promised to provide a fuller answer about UN use of private security firms but then stopped responding.)

Back on March 30, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey:

Inner City Press: On Somalia, there are reports saying that the Transitional Federal Government has contracted with a private security firm based in Nairobi called Halliday Finch to patrol its coast. I wanted to know, one, whether there is any UN involvement — whether Mr. [Augustine P.] Mahiga is aware of this, whether this constitutes the use of mercenaries...

Deputy Spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey: No, we’ll have to get information on that; I don’t have anything with me on that.

  The UN has yet to get or provide any information on this. But on April 5, Inner City Press received a reply of sorts from the spokesman for Halliday Finch:

Date: Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 4:05 AM
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com
From: Stephen Harley, Director of Communications Halliday Finch

Dear Mr Lee, Allow me to introduce myself – my name is Stephen Harley and I am the Director of Communications for Halliday Finch, the East Africa-based security provider you referred to in your 03 APR 12 article, 'At UN on Somalia, Diplomat Admits Probe & Firing, Mercenaries Not Known' and in other entries.

 

We greatly appreciate your interest in our activities in support of the TFG's initiative to establish a national coast guard service. However, we are certainly not 'mercenaries,' nor do we employ any personnel who have ever been ‘mercenaries’. Halliday Finch is a provider of security services with extensive experience in Africa delivering training, static and mobile security (including escorting various senior politicians and celebrity humanitarians) and risk assessment. We are already a recognized UN vendor (and have provided services to the UN in Sudan and Somalia as a result).

As you are aware, only last week Halliday Finch, contracted by UN ODC, safely transferred 17 convicted pirates as part of regional judicial arrangements on piracy between the governments of the Seychelles and the Somaliland authorities.

Furthermore, the international community is fully aware of and in agreement with our support (primarily training and logistics) to TFG coastguard program. We can only assume that some UN staff in New York, with so many other issues to address, may not be aware of the program – key international players in East/Horn of Africa (UN POS, UN ODC, the EU, the various national embassies) certainly are.

We are still in the set-up period of the project and have yet to conduct any activities that would be relevant to the arms embargo. Rest assured, when we reach that phase of the project, all activities will be in complete concordance with the legislation and with the approval of the relevant international entities.

Should you require further information regarding our support to the TFG coastguard program or any of Halliday Finch’s other activities, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

We look forward to reading further articles on the subject of Somalia and East/Horn of Africa in the future,

Yours aye,

Stephen Harley
Halliday Finch International

  Given the reference not only to "celebrity humanitarians" but also to the EU, Inner City Press on April 27 asked the EU's Admiral Potts about the TFG's use of Halliday Fitch, as well as Saracen.

  Potts replied, "I'm going to be unhelpful. I am aware of, we take a keen interest in those other actors in the maritime space. It's not for me to comment on other nation's policies."

  No - just to fly two kilometers in, guns blazing. But to comment on the use of private military firms, and how this might implicate or need the approval of the UN's Somalia / Eritrea Sanctions Committee? No, then the EU, or at least Admiral Potts, will not "comment on other nation's policies." At least for now. Watch this site.

UN Mission in Congo Uses Private Military Contractor, ICP Proves, As Ban Stonewalls, Deal with Museveni

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 11, updated April 12 -- The UN uses private military contractors or mercenaries, in the Congo for example, Inner City Press has learned.

The UN is not supposed to use mercenaries, but on April 9 Inner City Press asked the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in writing:

"please confirm or deny that MONUSCO uses the private security firm Saracen, and if not deny, state what they do, and how use of this firm does not constitute UN using private military contractor or 'mercenaries,' including in light of interaction between Saracen and UN Somalia / Eritrea sanctions committee. Where (else) does DPKO or DFS use private security?"

But DPKO, despite having a database to contractors to which Inner City Press also has access, said it needed time to response. So the next day on April 10 Inner City Press asked the UN spokesman:

Inner City Press: I have asked DPKO and I haven't received an answer, does MONUSCO use Saracen Uganda or any other Saracen variant which is a private military contractor, for security in the Congo and how does it comply with UN rules on using mercenaries?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: if you have asked DPKO and they haven't answered yet, don’t take that necessarily as a no, it means they may still be trying to get the answer you are looking for, okay.

Inner City Press: Since you’ve got a procurement data base, they can just plug the name in.

Spokesperson Nesirky: Thanks, Matthew, for that, and let’s see what we can come up with. Good afternoon everybody.

But even the next day April 11, the spokesman did not send Inner City Press any answer, and DPKO said it needed yet more time.

Saracen, as Inner City Press previously reported in connection with its attempts to get paid by Somalia's Transitional Federal Government despite the UN's Somalia / Eritrea sanctions, is partially owned by the brother of Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni -- who Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on April 11, according to Sudan's Permanent Representative with whom Ban also spoke.

So here from Inner City Press is information from the UN's procurement database, answering the question in the affirmative (but in turn raising more questions to be pursued) --

August 2010 SARACEN UGANDA LTD UGA CON/MON/10-085
Provision of Unarmed Security Services at Entebbe and Kampala
1-Aug-10 to 31-Jul-11 $170,685 MONUSCO

September 2010 SARACEN UGANDA LTD UGA
Security services $132,935 11KIN-200211 MONUSCO

July 2011 SARACEN UGANDA LTD UGA
Security services $144,648 12KIN-200059 MONUSCO

So why wouldn't DPKO and Ban Ki-moon's spokesman just answer the question? Watch this site.

Update of April 12, 10 am -- DPKO has written, in response to the April 9 questions:

"I have a response on the parts of your questions related to MONUSCO. On private security more generally, I am still following up. Question: Is MONUSCO using the services of SARACEN, a Ugandan private security company?

"MONUSCO contracts private unarmed security companies to assist in access control procedures in all of its compounds. Saracen is contracted by MONUSCO for these purposes at its base in Entebbe, Uganda."

While DPKO did not provide that actual contract information which Inner City Press published, this information says Saracen is under UN contract in Kampala as well. We seek explanation and await response "private security more generally" - and how it complies with UN system rules and principles. Watch this site.