In anticipation of NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, leading private security firms are looking for new business opportunities. Given the major investment that the Pentagon is making at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, some think Somalia could be a good bet. GardaWorld, the international arm of the Canadian security group Garda, is planning to open an office in Mogadishu. However the local context is not particularly easy: New Interior Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled is currently reviewing accreditation given to foreign private security companies by previous administrations.

Only a handful of private security companies are currently present in Somalia. Bancroft Global Development is supervising the African Union contingent’s training of the future Somali army, with funding from the US. Another outfit, PAE Government Services, runs the Camp Lemonnier base and carries out occasional missions for the Pentagon in Somalia.

One contract is currently up for grabs in Somalia: training and mentoring the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF). The unit, which was supervised until recently by Sterling Corporate Services with financing from the United Arab Emirates, is in charge of combating pirates in the autonomous province of Puntland.

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Source: Intellegence Online (http://www.intelligenceonline.com), Nov. 28, 2012 – Originally titled “United States: Security companies eye Somalia”.

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