Africa: AU Takes Aim At Africa’s New Brand of Mercenaries, but Strong Oversight, Clear Reporting Lines Are Needed

A draft convention against mercenarism is an important milestone in the AU’s effort to tackle mercenarism, but success will depend on a strong oversight committee and clear reporting lines.

Listen to this article 6 min Listen to this article 6 min The often shadowy nature of mercenary activity makes exact numbers difficult to verify, but there has certainly been a resurgence in Africa’s use of hired soldiers in the past decade. Countries are increasingly drawing on them to help deal with violent extremists and other internal conflicts.

Africa’s past experience with mercenaries saw small groups – between 50 and 500 per intervention – assigned to short and sporadic missions. Now numbers are steadily rising.

In December 2020, Stephanie Williams, the Acting Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, reported that Libya alone harboured about 20,000 foreign forces or mercenaries. In 2022, an estimated 2,000 hired soldiers supported the Central African Republic’s (CAR) armed forces. Mali had nearly 1,645 contractors as of April 2023, and mercenaries have been reported in Mozambique, Sudan and Burkina Faso.

The inability of regional organisations to deal with security crises, and constraints facing mechanisms such as the African Standby Force, have led to an increasing reliance on private military contractors. Their functions range from training troops and providing advice in Burkina…