Policy Brief - Presence of Foreign Fighters: Concessions for Security? - By Nihal El Mquirmi

To explain the shift from ad hoc mercenaries to the rise of private military and security companies, the second section of this paper argues that there has been a revolution in military affairs that changed the structure of the privatization of security, which also changed the dynamics of international conflict. [...] To explain the shift from ad hoc mercenaries to the rise of private military and security companies, the second section of this paper argues that there has been a revolution in military affairs that changed the structure of the privatization of security, which also changed the dynamics of international conflict. [...] Mercenaries in Decolonization Processes in Africa (1960- 1989): Katanga and Biafra The exploration of the African hinterland in the nineteenth century, and the tensions that arose following the discovery of its resources, provided opportunities for adventurers seeking fortune to enter the resource-rich continent. [...] As Singer argued, “fuelled by the collapse of the centralised systems in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe, and by successes in such places as Thatcherite Britain, privatization has been touted as a testament to the superiority of the marketplace over the government. [...] ANGOLA After the collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire in January 1975, three revolutionary movements—the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the Ugandan Peoples Army (UPA), which merged with the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FMLA) in 1962, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)— signed the Alvor Accords with the Portuguese govern.