Erik Prince in Congo: Transnational Business or Imperialism by a Different Name?

On April 17^th 2025 the Democratic Republic of the Congo government entered into an agreement with the private military company Frontier Services Group (FSG) led by its notorious leader Erik Prince. While the terms of the agreement are unclear the purpose seems to be to protect mining logistics and streamline government tax collection. This marks the end of dialogue between the two sides dating back to 2023 when Erik Prince offered to send 2000 predominately Latin American mercenaries to the Eastern Congo regions to pushback against rebels and secure mining areas.

The entry of Erik Prince’s private military forces into the Congo isn’t the first time that private military groups have entered the country on the behalf of foreign nations, however it does mark an inflection point as Erik Prince’s company is global in it’s reach and field a capable and technologically advanced army. Erik Prince started his career as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy seals where he went on to develop skills needed for creating the military contractor group Blackwater. In 1996 Blackwater was founded right before the start of the U.S. led war on terror and would participate as security contractors to protect VIP’s in Iraq and Afghanistan. After the 2007 Nisour Square massacre in which Blackwater operators killed 17 Iraqi civilians the company disbanded, and Erik Prince began working with smaller military groups like Vectus Global in Haiti, Reflex Response in the UAE, and most prominently the Hong Kong based Frontier Services Group throughout Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These private armies are often brought in by governments in order to subdue rebel or criminal armed groups. This is due to many states lacking conventional military organization methods to solve the problem or due to a desire to have some measure of plausible deniability for actions of a government with the price given to the mercenaries being a share of minerals or tax revenue however credible allegations of war crimes and civilian killings have followed many of these groups as their missions lack oversight and operate with less respect for the rules of war. As Congo is also a member of the African Union their employment of mercenaries is in violation of the 1977 Organization for African Unity treaty on the prohibition of mercenary forces in Africa.

Vectus Global has been estimated to have killed dozens of civilians including children in Haitian drone strikes, while FSG attempted to supply weapons to South Sudan and Libya. In order to move into the Congo however Erik Prince and his FSG group have partnered with Chinese government backed investment firms like CITIC in order to protect Chinese owned mines and interests. This as well as allegations that FSG trained Chinese military personnel led to sanctions from the U.S. and takes us to the current agreement that FSG has struck with the Congolese government.

The estimated 700-million-dollar contract currently places mercenaries in the mineral rich Katanga region to protect valuable copper and cobalt mines that the DRC seeks to use to re-establish it’s export revenue. On the ground troops mostly consist of Latin American ex-military personnel with some unconfirmed reports about former French Foreign Legion fighters also being involved. While Washington has remained mostly neutral on Erik Prince’s deals with the Congo they do fit well into the minerals for security agreement that President Trump has been working towards with the current Congolese government. Despite the past friction between the U.S. and Erik Prince over his connections to China they seem willing to tacitly support his operations in the Congo as it indirectly benefits their own mineral extraction contracts to have the M23 and other rebels pushed back.

The DRC government and the Chinese backed mines hope to use this contract to increase the revenue that they can extract from the region as well as prevent possible disruption due to the ongoing M23 rebel war in Eastern Congo. The U.S. also hopes to gain additional security complement their own mineral deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo. This would explain their relative acceptance of the agreement and why Erik Prince may feel confident making this deal that is supported by the Congolese government and wealthy Congolese elites.

Recently Prince’s efforts seem more determined than previous attempts such as with earlier Romanian mercenaries that caused division within the Congolese centers of power. This action caused significant local pushback for their high cost and inequality in pay. This current mercenary force, however, seems to have as of now avoided much the of the same criticism despite their reputation. Given the previous conduct of private military groups connected to Erik Prince it is highly likely that the civilians of the region are merely a means to an end for the company or even worse will be seen as a threat and subsequently brutalized to protect international business. Moving forward strong accountability and respect for human rights could bring about a mutually beneficial agreement for civilians as well as the DRC government and it’s foreign backers but with the current arrangement and contract signed such an outcome looks increasingly unlikely.

Written by Alec Hennessy

(Image taken from Reuters)

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