US Security firm proposes peacekeeping troops for Darfur

April 1, 2006 (AMMAN) — A leading U.S. security firm has offered to provide peacekeeping forces for Sudan’s Darfur region to boost African troops there, press reports said.

Cofer Black, vice chairman of the Moyock, N.C.-based private military company, told an international conference in Amman, Jordan, earlier this week that Blackwater stands ready to help keep or restore the peace anywhere it is needed.

He said the company could bolster existing peace-keeping forces from the African Union. He further added the company would undertake such a mission only with the approval of the U.S. government.
He said he has discussed his concept with the United States and NATO.

“I believe there is a contribution to be made by a small force,” Black said. “The issue is who’s going to let us play on their team?”

J. Cofer Black, a former U.S. State Department counter-terrorism coordinator, said Blackwater has been marketing the concept of private armies for low-intensity conflicts.

Unlike national and multinational armies, which tend to get bogged down by political and logistical limitations, Black said, Blackwater could have a small, nimble, brigade-size force ready to move into a troubled region on short notice.

“There is clear potential to conduct security operations at a fraction of the cost of NATO operations,” Black said. “It’s unusual and that’s why I’m raising it. This is not what you do if your objective is more money.”

(World Tribune/UPI/Virginian-Pilot/ST)