- JOHANNESBURG - Francois
Strydom learnt about killing in the Koevoet, the apartheid-era paramilitary
police unit, notorious for violence, torture and murder.
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- In Iraq, Strydom found his skills were in demand.
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- Employed by US-based firm SAS International, Strydom
was one of a number of South Africans in Iraq working as private "security
experts" before a January 28 bomb outside the Shaheen Hotel prematurely
terminated his contract.
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- The aftermath of the blast sent shockwaves through the
media, as Strydom's death revealed an embarrassing situation. It was estimated
that 1 500 former soldiers and policemen were operating in Iraq, in defiance
of stringent legislation forbidding the practice.
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- It emerged that the men make up along with US and British
personnel the largest contingent of commercial "military service providers"
on the ground in Iraq.
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- Most are said to be members of former elite units, disbanded
following the end of apartheid, their members suddenly finding themselves
unemployed, their skills no longer required.
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- The US-led conflict in Iraq, however, has given a boost
to the jobs market.
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- Many such men don't regard the training of Iraqi police
as "mercenary" work per se. Officials however, beg to differ,
as such activity is clearly outlawed by the 1998 regulation of foreign
military assistance act.
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- "Any form of service in an area of conflict such
as Iraq is illegal unless authorised by the national conventional arms
control committee," said Kader Asmal, who chairs the committee.
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- "This is to deal with mercenary and other 'civilian'
services such as bodyguard activities, training of policemen or the supply
of material," Asmal added, in a letter to The Star newspaper.
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- A recent statement from the office of Defence Minister
Mosiuoa Lekota also warned against offering "private security"
services of any kind in Iraq without the express authorisation of the minister.
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- Serving defence forces troops and police officers have
also reportedly been warned against taking "career breaks" in
order to conduct remunerative work in Iraq, under threat of penalties.
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- Strydom's death and the ensuing furore has shone a spotlight
onto an industry that nowadays quietly prospers below the radar of the
general public. The business of the industry is war, or as they might prefer
to put it, "military security".
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- Even to speak of such firms as "mercenary-companies"
is to court harsh criticism from industry figures, who try to distance
themselves from the image of the typical soldier-of-fortune rampaging through
an African war zone - an image they say is outdated.
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- "What the South African authorities are up against
is not merely a few military adventurers," claimed journalist and
defence expert Michael Schmidt in the newspaper This Day, "but the
21st century equivalent of the troops employed by the Dutch East India
Company: private armies of very wealthy companies with global reach".
- Sapa-dpa
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- Edited by Anthea Jonathan
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- http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1492812,00.html
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