The recently reported killing of a former New Zealand special forces officer and the wounding of a retired US Green Beret in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo should not be treated as an ordinary battlefield story.
The more urgent issue is the presence of foreign mercenaries once again operating alongside Congolese forces—and the fact that mercenary activity has no legitimate place in Africa’s conflicts.
Reuters reported that the men were part of a team working for Vectus Global, the private security company founded by Erik Prince, who also founded Blackwater. The September ambush in South Kivu reportedly killed at least seven Congolese and the former New Zealand soldier, and wounded the Green Beret and another foreign contractor.
The report turns months of speculation about Prince’s presence in Congo into evidence that his company’s personnel were operating in a combat zone.
International coverage has described the casualties and the contractors’ military backgrounds. But the question of why they were there should not be treated as a footnote. Calling them "contractors” does not settle the matter.
When foreign personnel are deployed alongside a national army and take part in fighting, their role demands immediate scrutiny under the laws and treaties governing mercenary activity.
African states have long recognised the threat mercenarism poses to sovereignty, peace and security. The African Union’s Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa prohibits and criminalises specified mercenary activities. A government contract cannot make prohibited mercenary conduct acceptable. Nor should the language of private security be used to obscure what foreign personnel are doing on the battlefield.
The Congolese authorities should therefore explain the company’s role, but the issue is not simply whether Kinshasa approved the deployment. The use of mercenaries cannot be legitimised by any form of authorisation.
The essential question is whether these foreign personnel were engaged in mercenary activity, and whether those who recruited, financed, deployed or used them are in breach of applicable law. That is a matter for investigation, not public relations.
Peace mediators, including the African Union and those involved in the Washington process, should take up the issue urgently. A peace process that scrutinises armed groups and national forces while overlooking foreign combatants risks leaving a dangerous element of the conflict untouched. Mediators should demand clarity on the company’s activities and insist that any prohibited mercenary involvement end.
The dead and wounded deserve compassion. But coverage must not stop at their names, injuries or service records. Congolese civilians may also have been caught in the attack, according to a source cited by Reuters. The public deserves answers about who brought foreign fighters into this conflict, what they were doing, and why the international response has been so muted.