ABSTRACT
During the 1990s there has been much debate in both political and academic circles about the role of so-called private security companies and mercenaries in Africa's conflict zones. This chapter highlights the particular circumstances pertaining in sub-Saharan Africa that facilitate the privatisation of security. It analyses examples of recent operations by private security companies and mercenaries and their effectiveness in the context of the claims made by the advocates of security privatisation and the allegations made by their opponents. The chapter looks at the reaction of individual states and supranational organisations to this emerging phenomenon and their attempts at 'controlling' it. Although private security companies have operated in many parts of the world, it is in Africa that they have found their most profitable market. Executive Outcomes has operated in a number of other African states including Kenya and Uganda but these operations have been of a much lower profile.
