Somalia Jumps on Private Security Bandwagon
23 Nov 2009
By Jody Ray Bennett for ISN
Tensions rose in Somalia in the final weeks of October 2009 as the president of the country’s UN-backed transitional government, external pageSharif Sheik Ahmed, became the target of an insurgent attack while attempting to depart from an airport to Uganda to attend an African Union (AU) summit on refugees and internally displaced people.
According to external pagenews reports, al-Shabaab militants “lobbed mortars at the airport, prompting peacekeepers of the AU mission in Somalia known as AMISOM, to fire back.”
At least 24 people were killed and as many as 60 wounded when peacekeepers returned fire in the direction of the crowded Bakara marketplace, causing many to question AMISOM’s effectiveness in Somalia, according to external pageVoice of America.
One Bakara storekeeper told VOA that while “Islamist insurgents cause problems by attacking the peacekeepers, AMISOM's harsh response is doing far more harm than good [and that] people may no longer tolerate [AMISOM’s] presence in Somalia if it continues shelling residential areas.”
Part of the problem might be that AMISOM’s 5,000-strong force is short by 3,000 troops to meet its mandated strength of 8,000 peacekeepers. That ASIMOM fires back through the very public it is mandated to protect reveals the missions’ frustrations to effectively combat against increasingly unorthodox and unexpected attacks by insurgents that, in comparison to what is needed to build a common security in Somalia, are inexpensive and relatively easy to orchestrate.
This has caused the government of Somalia to search for support from other willing parties, external pageeventually awarding a US-based private military and security company (PMSC) a contract to “provide security consulting services and training for government forces.”
Full speed ahead
The company, external pageCorporate Security Solutions Global (CSS Global), is a part of the larger external pageCSS Alliance, a multi-faceted strategic and security solutions provider based in Ada, a external pagetownship in western Michigan that contains less than 10,000 residents.
According to its website, the company sells everything from security for “office parks, warehouses, manufacturing plants and high-traffic facilities” to “emergency response planning” for multinational corporations and governments. The company also holds external pageCSS HealthForce, which can be contracted to recruit, screen and manage hospital staff and medical personnel.
The company will do just about anything: its “external pageSpecialized HelpTeam” even provides “valet, concierge, receiving clerk, front desk, pool attendant and additional service-oriented needs.”
Concerning the side of the business on its way to Somalia, CSS Global advertises its services proudly, external pageselling everything from personal armed security guards, convoy security, military and police training, and evacuations and extraction operations.
In 2005, the external pagecompany was contracted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (external pageFEMA) to provide security for trailer parks and commercial buildings after Hurricane Katrina. It has since opened offices throughout the southern US to provide the Gulf states with emergency and external pagedisaster preparation services.
Two years after Katrina, the company was awarded a contract by the US Department of Defense (DOD) to provide personal and convoy security outside of the Green Zone in Iraq, and according to a external pagelocal Michigan daily, “three CSS operatives were killed in 2007 by roadside bombs while escorting convoys” for the company.
Created by two brothers in the external pageearly 1990s as “a small detective and corporate security agency […] to a player in international security”, CSS Global currently provides operations and maintenance (O&M) services at Camp Speicher, a US Army operating base near Tikrit in northern Iraq.
More fascinating, however, is that by securing this contract that has been awarded directly by the government of Somalia, the company now represents the first overt American presence involved with the military and security affairs of Somalia since the 1993 external pageBattle of Mogadishu, otherwise known as the infamous Black Hawk Down situation. But this time, it is not a US state-led force on the ground, but private military and security firm.
Black Hawk Down redux?
CSS Global’s latest Somali project is interesting on several levels. According to the company, the operation is being funded by “the Arab League and other members of the international community.” If the Arab League is partly funding a private, western company that has already been external pagecompared to Blackwater to deploy to a predominately Muslim Somalia, the irony is overwhelming.
One would think this story would receive major media attention given the last time US forces were in Somalia and the Black Hawk Down debacle; however, mainstream American media has been shamefully silent on these recent developments.
While CSS is a private company, its role in Somalia will nevertheless force the company to serve as US representatives and will more than likely be perceived by insurgents as US interest and influence returning to the country.
external pageIn an interview with the local Michigan daily, the owners of the company referred to its “protective operations team” that may indicate an intention to place armed security personnel in Somalia or train local Somalis to act as a private force to secure and protect state interests against the insurgency. In the interview, one owner stated he could not comment on the “number of security forces CSS would employ.” How such forces will be used is also unknown.
Nevertheless, while this story remains absent from any mainstream coverage, the private military and security industry is watching very closely.
“It is important that [CSS Global] gets this right, because all eyes are on them. They are an American company, funded in part by the Arab League, to provide protection and training services to the Somali government. The last time America had anything to do with Somalia was back in the 90s with Operation Restore Hope, and we all know how that ended. So the bitter memory of Black Hawk Down is still [fresh in America], and it is still in the memory of our enemy,” Matt Loe, an American private security contractor, former Marine and author of the online blog external pageFeralJundi.com, told ISN Security Watch.
The quiet, private media
More interesting, however, is that unlike many PMSCs that often make mainstream news coverage, CSS has been contracted by the government of Somalia directly.
Unlike the way in which companies such as Blackwater or Triple Canopy were awarded contracts by the US Department of Defense or State, CSS Global was requested by the government of Somalia. This dynamic concerns exactly to which party or parties the company will answer, how these operations will bolster or further erode the reputation of the industry in which it does business, and perhaps most importantly, what effect or byproduct its operations in Somalia will create for US-Somali relations in the future.
“I hope that today's war planners and strategists are thinking long and hard about what implications CSS Global could have on the strategy in Somalia. To say that PMCs or PSCs do not have an impact on strategy for this war is dangerously naive. To put it in [counterinsurgency] terms, CSS Global will be interacting with the local populations, like it or not, and [US strategy] has been deficient in addressing the impact the contracting community has on counter-insurgency. The silence on it in the think tank community is deafening,” Loe told ISN Security Watch.
“What is missing from this story is the lack of response from the media and from the war planners. When the story first came out, there was silence. This is a big story, because of the US history in Somalia. [The US is] going back there, and we are doing it in a roundabout way through a private military company, whether we want to or not,” Loe said.
While critics of the industry maintain that private military and security companies are used by governments in order to circumvent attention, responsibility and accountability for activities that are contracted to non-state entities, those within the industry see CSS Global’s Somali contract as an opportunity to repair the tarnished reputation of the industry. There is tremendous concern by those in the industry who are paying attention, and some remain curious about whether CSS Global has what it takes to help turn the situation in Somalia around.
“I have no doubt that al-Shabaab will do all they can to create another Blackhawk Down or external pageBlackwater Bridge scenario to capitalize on. It would make for the ultimate in propaganda value. Or better yet, to create the environment for which a Nisour Square scenario could play out, where contractors kill civilians in a crossfire situation. Is CSS Global ready for that?” Loe said.
“I just hope that they are prepared for this kind of thing, because in essence, they are representing the US in that country again. Is CSS Global is the best company for the job, and do they have the capability and resources to make this work? Or did Somalia and the Arab League get suckered into contracting with a company that really doesn't have the experience for this kind of thing?”
The company has yet to respond to ISN Security Watch’s queries.
It seems the company does not want to generate a lot of attention about its role in Somalia, and as a result, many questions remain. To date, the company has given only one interview to a local publication in its home state of Michigan, which was later criticized by the external pageGrand Rapids Institute for Media and Democracy (GRID) for publishing a “favorable” story that interviewed the company’s owners who “[made] vague comments about what they will be doing in Somalia.”
ISN Security Watch Update (25 November 2009): Recently ISN Security Watch was made aware that VOA Somalia reported on 21 October 2009 that Idd Beddel, the deputy Somali ambassador to the United Nations, said the Somali government had “not signed a security agreement with an American security firm,” later explaining that while the company did in fact sign a contract, it did so through an agent who was not an official of the Somali government. ISN Security Watch attempted again to contact representatives at CSS Global and Grand Rapids Press, but both parties have yet to return correspondence.