Executive Outcomes is a

private military company A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military ...

(PMC) founded in South Africa in 1989 by Eeben Barlow, a former

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

of the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

. It later became part of the South African-based

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

Strategic Resource Corporation.The Privatisation of Violence: New mercenaries and the state
Christopher Wrigley CAAT March 1999 The company was reestablished in 2020.

History

Background

In 1989, following the conclusion of

South African Border War The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Ango ...

s in

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordinat ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

regime was looking at broad cuts in its military personnel. This initial drawback accelerated rapidly as the apartheid system was dismantled in the early 1990s.

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

leader

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

demanded that then South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk dismantle some of the South African and South-West African Special Forces units such as 32 Battalion and

Koevoet Koevoet (, meaning ''crowbar'', also known as Operation K or SWAPOL-COIN) was the counterinsurgency branch of the South West African Police (SWAPOL). Its formations included white South African police officers, usually seconded from the South A ...

. One of these was the

Civil Cooperation Bureau The South African Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), was a government-sponsored counterinsurgency unit, during the apartheid era. The CCB, operated under the authority of Defence Minister General Magnus Malan. The Truth and Reconciliation Com ...

(CCB), a unit that carried out covert operations which included assassinations of government opponents, and worked to bypass the United Nations apartheid sanctions by setting up overseas

front companies A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...

. Only Koevoet, being part of the

South West African Police The South West African Police (SWAPOL) was the national police force of South West Africa (now Namibia), responsible for law enforcement and public safety in South West Africa when the territory was administered by South Africa. It was organised ...

(SWAPOL), was disbanded as part of independence negotiations for

South-West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

(now Namibia). Many members of the other units, or simply former national servicemen, were recruited by Executive Outcomes (EO).

Formation

Eeben Barlow and Michael Mullen, formerly in charge of the Western European section of the CCB, established Executive Outcomes (EO) in 1989. Its aim was to provide specialised covert training to Special Forces members. Barlow was also awarded a contract by

Debswana Debswana Diamond Company Limited, or simply Debswana, is a mining company located in Botswana, and is the world's leading producer of diamonds by value. Debswana operates four diamond mines in the eastern and central parts of Botswana, as well a ...

to train a selected group of security officers to infiltrate and penetrate the illegal diamond dealing syndicates in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

. When Debswana discovered EO was training the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), it promptly cancelled EO's contract. "Many of Barlow's Special Forces students would later join him at EO after he started recruiting men to assist with the training of the Angolan forces," says Walter Halicki, one of Eeben's associates in the FAA. The company also went on to recruit many of its personnel from the units President

F. W. De Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk (, , 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996 in the democratic government. As South ...

disbanded. Even former enemy fighters of the uMkhonto we Sizwe and

Azanian People's Liberation Army The Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), formerly known as Poqo, was the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress, an African nationalist movement in South Africa. In the Xhosa language, the word 'Poqo' means 'pure'. After attacks on ...

were recruited as well since many were found out of work after their own restructuring and integration to the

South African National Defense Force The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) comprises the armed forces of South Africa. The commander of the SANDF is appointed by the President of South Africa from one of the armed services. They are in turn accountable to the Minister ...

. At its peak, EO employed about 2,000 former soldiers. Barlow registered Executive Outcomes Ltd in the UK on the insistence of the

South African Reserve Bank The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is the central bank of South Africa. It was established in 1921 after Parliament passed an act, the "Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920", as a direct result of the abnormal monetary and financial condi ...

. There is some confusion over this issue as a top secret British intelligence report states that "Executive Outcomes was registered in the UK on September 1993 by Anthony (Tony) Buckingham, a British businessman and

Simon Mann Simon Francis Mann (born 26 June 1952) is a British mercenary and former officer in the SAS. He trained to be an officer at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Scots Guards. He later became a member of the SAS. On leaving the military, h ...

, a former British officer". Buckingham denies that he registered EO in London and consistently denies any "corporate ties" to EO.

Key personnel

Apart from founder Eeben Barlow (CEO), other senior EO personnel were Lafras Luitingh (Deputy to CEO) and Nic van der Bergh (CEO after Barlow resigned). Senior associates included

Tony Buckingham Anthony Leslie Rowland "Tony" Buckingham is a former North Sea oil-rig diver and is currently an oil industry executive with a significant share holding in Heritage Oil Corporation. Heritage is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 1999. I ...

and Derek Williams who, along with Barlow and Luitingh were the

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...

s of Ibis Air, the aircraft

procurement Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or s ...

organisation for Executive Outcomes which was essentially their private "air force". Pilot Crause Steyl was the South African-based director of Ibis Air.

Activities

Angola

Executive Outcomes initially trained and later fought on behalf of the

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordinat ...

n government against

UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...

after UNITA refused to accept the election results in 1992. This contract was awarded to the company after EO had assisted Ranger Oil with an equipment recovery operation in the harbour town of

Soyo Soyo (formerly known as ''Santo António do Zaire'') is a city, with a population of 200,920 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 227,175 (2014 census), located in the province of Zaire in Angola, at the mouth of the Congo riv ...

. Dubbed by the South African media as an attempt to assassinate the rebel leader Dr.

Jonas Savimbi Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan revolutionary politician and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA waged a guerrilla war agai ...

, EO found itself under constant UNITA attacks where it lost three of its men. This action saw EO as being recognised by the FAA and a contract to train its forces was awarded. In a short space of time, UNITA was defeated on the battlefield and sued for peace. The Angolan government, under pressure from the UN and the US, were forced to terminate EO's contract. EO was replaced by the UN's peacekeeping force known as UNAVEM. Angola returned to war shortly thereafter.

Sierra Leone

In March 1995, the company contained an insurrection of guerrillas known as the

Revolutionary United Front The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surv ...

(RUF) in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

, regained control of the diamond fields, and forced a negotiated peace.The New Mercenaries and the Privatization of Conflict
Thomas K. Adams. ''Parameters'', Summer 1999 In the case of Angola this led to a cease fire and the

Lusaka Protocol The Lusaka Protocol, initialed in Lusaka, Zambia on October 31, 1994, attempted to end the Angolan Civil War by integrating and disarming UNITA and starting national reconciliation. Both sides signed a truce as part of the protocol on November 15 ...

, which ended the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...

– albeit only for a few years. In Sierra Leone, however, the government capitulated to international pressure to have EO withdraw in favour of an ineffective peacekeeping force, allowing the RUF to rebuild and sack the capital in "Operation No Living Thing". As is characteristic of one of the first PMCs, Executive Outcomes was directly involved militarily in Angola and Sierra Leone. The company was notable in its ability to provide all aspects of a highly trained modern army to the less professional government forces of Sierra Leone and Angola. For instance, in Sierra Leone, Executive Outcomes fielded not only professional fighting men, but armour and support aircraft such as one Mi-24 Hind and two Mi-8 Hip helicopters, the

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development hist ...

infantry fighting vehicle and

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...

main battle tank. These were bought from sources in the worldwide arms trade within Africa as well as Eastern Europe.

Ibis Air

Ibis Air was a partner business entity that provided EO with airborne services, including

medevac Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

capabilities via a

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller air ...

with the registry D2-FLZ. Ibis Air also owned a small fleet of MiG-23 "Flogger" fighters and Pilatus PC-7 turbo-prop trainers converted for the

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

and ground attack capabilities using SNEB air-to-ground

rockets A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

. It was also allowed to operate MiG-27 "Flogger"

strike aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pres ...

and Su-25 "Frogfoot"

ground support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement ...

aircraft that were loaned out to EO by the

Angolan Air Force The National Air Force of Angola or FANA ( pt, Força Aérea Nacional de Angola) is the air branch of the Armed Forces of Angola. With an inventory of more than 300 aircraft, FANA is (on paper) one of the largest and strongest air forces of A ...

Other contracts

Executive Outcomes had contracts with

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

s such as

De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and ...

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

Rio Tinto Zinc Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto, ...

and

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...

. The governments of

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordinat ...

, Sierra Leone and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

were also clients.

Dissolution

Executive Outcomes actively encouraged the South African government to enforce a regulation of PMCs as several South African and international companies were masquerading for work under the banner of Executive Outcomes. Additionally, Executive Outcomes was actively engaged in providing input into the formulation of the bill which became known as "Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act" in 1998. Executive Outcomes was duly provided with a licence stipulating that it met the requirements of the newly introduced Act. Executive Outcomes was dissolved on 31 December 1998. The aim of the Act was to stop

mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any ...

activities by the dual actions of: # preventing direct participation as a combatant in armed conflict for private gain including the training, recruitment and use of mercenaries; and, # requiring approval of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee for offering of military assistance overseas.

Sandline International

Executive Outcomes was often loosely linked with the United Kingdom private military company Sandline International, but in 1997 Sandline directly subcontracted Executive Outcomes for their operation in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

to oust the rebels holding the Pangua mine on

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomon Islands, North Solo ...

which led to the so-called "

Sandline affair The Sandline affair was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly the conflict in Bougainville. It brought down the government of Sir Julius Chan, and took Papua New Guinea t ...

" when news of the government's intention to hire mercenaries was leaked to the Australian press. The Commander of the

Papua New Guinea Defence Force The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Papua New Guinea. It originated from the Australian Army land forces of the territory of Papua New Guinea before independence, coming into be ...

Jerry Singirok Jerry Singirok (born 5 May 1956) was the commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force throughout the Sandline affair of 1997. Military career Jerry Singirok was a career soldier who had risen through the ranks of the Papua New guinea Defense ...

– who reversed his support for the operation – ordered the detaining of all the mercenaries on their arrival, and forced the Prime Minister

Sir Julius Chan Sir Julius Chan (born 29 August 1939) served as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1980 to 1982 and from 1994 to 1997. He is Member of Parliament for New Ireland Province, having won the seat in the 2007 national election. He is also th ...

to resign with Papua New Guinea coming close to a military coup.

Sterling Corporate Services

A UN report from July 2012 criticised the South African security company Sterling Corporate Services for assembling a "private army" in defiance of international agreements and also of Somalian sanctions. The report was conducted by the UN's Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea (SEMG) and revealed strong links to Executive Outcomes. In November 2020, founder Eeben Barlow stepped down from his position as chairman of STTEP to restart Executive Outcomes. He mentioned that part of his company's mission would now be "to expose those media and intelligence whores that thrive on lying for secret payments." Barlow claimed that the decision to restart the company came at the request of "some governments", which he had "little choice but to accept."

References

External links

Mirror of Executive Outcomes' official website in 1998, from archive.orgLicensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror
by Robert Young Pelton (Crown, 1 Sep 2006)

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226195154/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/executive_outcomes.htm , date=26 February 2017 page by GlobalSecurity.org
Profile: Simon Mann

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

10 September 2004
War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars
by Al J Venter (Casemate, Feb 2006)

by Dr. Robert J. Bunker and Steven F. Marin (July 1999) Private military contractors Re-established companies Paramilitary organisations based in South Africa Security companies of South Africa Sierra Leone Civil War Angolan Civil War Defunct companies of South Africa Business services companies established in 1989 Companies disestablished in 1998 South African companies established in 1989

History

Background

Formation

Key personnel

Activities

Angola

Sierra Leone

Ibis Air

Other contracts

Dissolution

Sandline International

Sterling Corporate Services

See also

References

External links