South Africa: The Downside of Banning Mercenaries

South Africa's sweeping legislation to outlaw mercenary activities might also hamper the country's peacekeeping efforts and affect non-governmental and aid organisations while targeting private military/security companies (PMCs).

"The South Africa legislation is very innovative," said Andrew Carswell, the regional armed forces and security delegate from the International Committee of the Red Cross at a seminar on the act at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria. "It is the first of its type in the world."