By Dave Graham
Friday, May 28, 2010
The firm's managing director said it would only send its staff -- which include former German soldiers -- to Somalia once Abdinur Ahmed Darman, a self-styled president who media describe as a warlord, had been recognised by the United Nations. But reports that Asgaard German Security Group had agreed to send armed personnel to back Darman has sparked protests from lawmakers across the political spectrum, given the grim record of German forces abroad during the Nazi era.
Both opposition politicians and legislators from Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition have criticised the agreement which would see former members of the Bundeswehr (German army) bear arms in the war-torn, East African country.
Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, has been mired in violence and lacked effective central government since the overthrow of a dictator in 1991. Islamist fighters have waged a three year insurgency that has killed more than 21,000 people.
Asgaard had agreed to offer advice on security to Darman as well as the protection of "people, objects and convoys", managing director Thomas Kaltegaertner told Reuters on Wednesday. He said German rules on how private security firms should operate were not clear.
"Basically there aren't any," said Kaltegaertner, who also heads a local branch of the Bundeswehr reserve, which receives public funding. "It's time we had a discussion about it."
State prosecutors in Muenster are investigating Asgaard on suspicion that the firm may have infringed laws prohibiting the recruitment of German soldiers for foreign armed forces.
Paul Schaefer, a defence policy spokesman for the opposition Left Party, said the Asgaard deal showed that rules on the private sector use of army reservists needed tightening.
"The mere semblance of a lobby group backed with public funds being used as recruitment office for deployment of mercenaries is unacceptable," he said.
Deployments of Germany's own armed forces, notably in Afghanistan, have lacked widespread support in a populace still mindful of the Nazi destruction wrought in the Second World War.
The use of private security groups like U.S. firm Blackwater -- now called Xe Services LLC -- has been subject to strong criticism in German media coverage of recent conflicts. (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: Reuters