U.S. Relies on Contractors in Somalia Conflict

[AYOUB]

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT

Published: August 10, 2011

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Richard Rouget, a gun for hire over two decades of bloody African conflict, is the unlikely face of the American campaign against militants in Somalia.

 

A husky former French Army officer, Mr. Rouget, 51, commanded a group of foreign fighters during Ivory Coast’s civil war in 2003, was convicted by a South African court of selling his military services and did a stint in the presidential guard of the Comoros Islands, an archipelago plagued by political tumult and coup attempts.

 

Now Mr. Rouget works for Bancroft Global Development, an American private security company that the State Department has indirectly financed to train African troops who have fought a pitched urban battle in the ruins of this city against the Shabab, the Somali militant group allied with Al Qaeda.

 

The company plays a vital part in the conflict now raging inside Somalia, a country that has been effectively ungoverned and mired in chaos for years. The fight against the Shabab, a group that United States officials fear could someday carry out strikes against the West, has mostly been outsourced to African soldiers and private companies out of reluctance to send American troops back into a country they hastily exited nearly two decades ago.

Full article > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/world/africa/11somalia.html

[AYOUB]

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

A Ugandan soldier leads Richard Rouget, a military adviser with Bancroft Global Development, to the roof of a building to monitor a firefight

 

 

More photos> http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/10/world/africa/20110811_SOMALIA.html?ref=africa#10

[NASSIR]

Already posted. Have your say on this?

[Jacaylbaro]

It is an open market with big financial prosperity ........everyone is trying to get his share.

 

So i'm not surprised ...

[AYOUB]

Nassirow, everyone seem to be claiming the credit for Shabaab's withdrawal from Xamar. The question is; what next if or when the Youths are out of the picture? How long before these foreign boots leave as well? Considering their current influence (control even if one takes their actions like the sacking of PM Formaggio in to account) on Xamar, who can stop them making their stay long term? It would be interesting to hear supporters of the TFG give their cents on these points.

[yahya007]

tackle alshabab and we will tackle this ATOONS once we are secure from the enemity within us @ AYOUB. less worry bro.