The Green Ribbon Books

Bloodsong: An Account of Executive Outcomes in Angola

Jim Hooper
HarperCollins
2002

Executive Outcomes' intervention in Angola was a decisive moment in the emergence of the modern 'private military company'. Hooper's account is very much the official version, consisting primarily of the reminiscences of EO officers.

The opening sections feature anecdotes from South Africa's border wars, which are portrayed as a heroic struggle against communism.

The end of the Cold War paved the way EO's personnel to turn on their former UNITA allies by signing up to fight for the Angolan Government, an about-turn which, according to Hooper, caused more tensions with old SADF colleagues than with the new ANC Government.

An initial operation to seize the Soyo oil refinery in 1993, was followed a year later by EO's participation in a decisive campaign to oust UNITA from Angola's main diamond fields.

Hooper's account will prove satisfying to military buffs, but has little to say about the wider issues raised by EO's intervention. There's seems little doubt that the company was an effective force in Angola and Sierra Leone, (which is covered in an appendix), but Hooper glosses over the quid pro quo exacted by the company's backers in the oil and mining industry, an issue covered more fully by Margaret Drohan's Making a Killing.

Bloodsong is an important source for the events it covers, but one which should be approached with caution.

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Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry

Peter W. Singer
Cornell University Press
2003

A prescient study of the privatisation of warfare, that predates the Iraq War but explores one of the key trends that has shaped that conflict.

Singer uses a number of case studies to highlight the growing range of military services being provided by private companies.

A chapter on South Africa's Executive Outcomes (EO) and its various affiliates illustrates the role of the 'Military Provider Firm', which engages in frontline combat. An intriguing appendix includes a copy of the agreement between EO offshoot Sandline and the government of Papua New Guinea, and a list of the huge array of military equipment involved in the company's abortive plan to suppress the rebellion in Bougainville.

The role of the 'Military Consulting Firm' is illustrated by US company MPRI, which advised the Croatian Army in the run-up to the 1995 'Operation Storm' offensive against the Krajina Serbs.  Another US company, Brown and Roots Services, exemplifies the logistical role played by the 'Military Support Firm.'

As well as providing a comprehensive survey of the privatised military industry, Singer shows that the phenomenon represents a fundamental challenge to established assumptions in a huge range of fields.

This book should be the first port of call for anyone looking for a serious theoretical study of the subject. A ground-breaking piece of scholarship.

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Making a Killing: How Corporations use Armed Force to do Business

Madelaine Drohan
Randam House Canada 2003
Lyons Press edition 2004

Canada's stock exchanges are global centre for resource industries. As a result, financial journalist Madelaine Drohan found herself acquiring an expertise in a subject more exotic than the usual balance sheets and trading reports - the use of armed force by private corporations.

In 1998, Drohan was invited to war-torn Angola by Diamondworks. The company's majority shareholder Tony Buckingham, was a British former special forces officer with links to South African mercenary firm Executive Outcomes, which, Drohan learned, he hired out to weak African governments in exchange for mineral concessions.

Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror

Robert Young Pelton
Crown Publishers
2006

Adventure traveller Pelton turned his attention to the growing use of mercenaries by Western governments after running into a team of contractors on the Afghan-Pakistan border in 2003.

The result was this book, which combines firsthand reportage from war-zones across the globe with some very significant investigative journalism about private military companies like Aegis and Blackwater.

Pelton provides the best account yet of how Aegis won its controversial US Government contract in Iraq. He also cover Simon Mann's 'Wonga Coup' attempt in Equatorial Guinea, in a chapter which quotes some interesting sources on the British Government's role.

His on the-ground reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan provides a unique insight into the emerging private military culture. Yet without moralising, he raises profound questions about a phenomenon that seems to be here to stay.

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The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa

Adam Roberts
Profile Books
2006

In March 2004, Zimbabwean police impounded a jet carrying 64 mercenaries, led by former SAS officer Simon Mann. The event marked the unravelling of an extraordinary plot, backed by wealthy investors, to overthrow the Government of Equatorial Guinea, a tiny oil-rich nation in West Africa.

The Wonga Coup, by Adam Roberts is the first book to tell the story of the conspiracy, and the subsequent fallout.

If this sounds like the plot of a Frederick Forsyth novel, that’s because it is. Roberts reveals that Forsyth’s bestseller The Dogs of War , is based on the thriller writer’s real-life involvement with a failed 1973 coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea.