The Guns for Hire: Private Military Companies in Nigeria and Mozambique

Abstract: This case study investigates the involvement of private military companies (PMCs) in two African conflicts. Nigeria and Mozambique hired PMCs in 2014 and 2019 respectively to combat internal insurgencies. The paper aims to answer why these countries hired PMCs and if the PMCs were successful in combating the insurgencies. For the first question, the intensity of the insurgency and the state of the armed forces (prior to the PMCs arrival) are seen as independent variables and the hiring of PMCs as the dependent variable. The second question uses competence, effectiveness and coordination with the host nations forces as independent variables, and the level of success as the dependent variable. The paper uses the concept of state capacity, in the form of military capacity, as a theoretical framework. I argue that Nigeria and Mozambique hired PMCs due to similar reasons. Both countries suffered from weak state capacity as their armed forces had been unable to defeat the insurgencies, who instead had grown and intensified. The PMCs level of success differs between the two cases. In Nigeria, the PMCs were successful in combating the insurgency, but the PMCs in Mozambique only achieved mixed results.