The recent proliferation of private military and security companies in Africa reflects a global trend in which non-core security functions of the state are increasingly being outsourced to the private sector. This is the unravelling of the processes of globalisation and privatisation, which even powerful states have found difficult to resist. A major security concern has been that while powerful states are able to retain core security functions within the public sphere and effectively regulate the private security sector, sub-Saharan African countries do not face the same scenario. The fragility of the state makes it possible for the expanding scope of privatisation to encroach upon core security functions. So far attempts to regulate the industry by African states and the international community have been almost non-existent, with a few exceptions. The concern of this paper is to find the appropriate point where the public and private security sectors in Africa should meet. It argues that effective regulation of the industry is integral to and a potential instrument for security sector reform (SSR) in the region, and suggests the conditions under which security sector reform in Africa can be enhanced through the private security sector.
In a culture, where regulation trumps responsibility, perceptions count more than reality, and means triumph over ends, it is unsurprising that calls for the regulation of private security companies should come before the professionalisation of security practitioners. The pursuit of transparency and openness are to be admired, but they do not of themselves guarantee honesty or defeat deception. In the private security sector, where private security companies are but one part, the strategic direction of its myriad organisations is ultimately conducted through the fingertips of individual human beings. It is at this individual level that fundamental differences between the right and wrong of all matters security might have greater traction.
When effectively regulated, private security actors can make a valuable contribution to the provision of security within a state. However, an uncontrolled or poorly regulated sector can function as an obstacle to peacebuilding, good governance and sustainable development in transitional or post-conflict states. Though donors and policymakers often administrate security sector reform programmes in such states, it is too often the case that the private security industry is overlooked. This paper outlines the issues that should be examined, and the approach that policymakers can adopt to assess whether the operation of private security companies within a state is problematic; and therefore whether their inclusion within comprehensive security sector reform programmes is necessary.