Demobilised soldiers find work in the security industry

Angola's mushrooming security industry has become a major source of employment for demobilised soldiers, according to various experts based in the capital, Luanda. More than 80 percent of security employees were previously in the defence forces. "There are at least 15,000 former military personnel working in the security industry in Luanda itself," Svend Thomsen, co-owner of one of Angola's largest security companies, Guarda Segura, told IRIN. Guarda Segura is run by Thomsen, a former Swedish diplomat, and his wife Fernanda Aguiar-Thomsen, previously a senior official in the Angolan military. "People often make accusations that the various generals have a slice in the security companies, but the bottom line is: when the law allowing the establishment of security companies was approved in 1992 - the election year - it proved the best source of employment for demobilised soldiers," Thomsen explained. An Angolan official confirmed that there were more than 100 security companies in Luanda. "Most of them are run by former military officials," said a security analyst who did not wish to be named. According to Raphael Marques, head of the Luanda-based NGO, Open Society, "lack of employment and business opportunities for the demobilised military personnel, and ineffective policing", were some of the major reasons for the growth of the security industry in Angola. The industry requires little investment. "Any former military official who knew four other soldiers could get together and form a company," another company owner pointed out. For Careira Dominigues, a former UNITA soldier from the northern province of Kwande Norte who joined a security company in 1992, "any job is acceptable - it is a question of survival". Once he fought in the cause of Jonas Savimbi; now he guards houses in Luanda's residential suburbs. "We just had to adjust the former soldier's attitude - he had to perform the same job now, in a civil manner," Thomsen added. Dominigues "hates" his job. "I am still lying awake in the open - nothing has really changed for me - if I am offered another job, I will leave it just like that." "Most of the people employed in the security industry are exploited and work in extreme conditions," said Marques. Guards often receive salaries as low as US $30 a month, and a single upmarket house can have several guards per watch. "Every mansion and every business that comes into Luanda hires a security company. For businesses - the oil and diamond industries - protection costs several hundreds of thousands. For many mansions, having a security guard has become a status symbol," Marques commented. According to official statistics, Luanda does not have a particularly high crime rate. A police report for the week ending 3 June 2004 states that 61 criminal incidents were registered in a city with almost four million people, and although two voluntary homicides and eight rapes were committed, the largest category of crime was petty thefts. "The reason we have more security companies is because the petty theft is committed by criminals carrying machine-guns," explained the owner of another security company, who also chose not to be named. "The machine-guns are never used on people, the criminals merely fire them in the air," Thomsen said. UNITA signed a ceasefire agreement in 2002, ending three decades of almost continual civil war. But, according to a Luanda-based think-tank, the Centre for Strategic Studies, "the existence of a great number of weapons in the hands of the population" has remained a significant problem. "The lack of prompt solutions for the demobilisation, and the consequent social and professional reintegration for those that belonged to UNITA and to the government forces, can create what is commonly known as 'wandering groups' under the control of warlords. These groups, through actions of robberies and terrorism, can create an environment of destabilisation and insecurity in vast areas of the national territory for an uncertain period." Small bands of unemployed youth can be seen roaming the alleyways in the informal settlements. Formal and informal settlements jostle each other for space and are interconnected. "In the case of Luanda there are no affluent suburbs. You might be a diamond merchant, but your neighbour might be poor vendor," Thomsen said. Security companies charge households needing protection up to US $2,000 a month. Rental for a four-bedroomed mansion ranges between US $20,000 and $30,000 a month, while a two-bedroom apartment can set you back at least $3,000 a month.