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Wikidrain's first posting is a confidential document relayed to us by an employee of the British Multinational Cromwell Oil who is concerned about that company's behavior in Discordia.
We make no comment - just read it and draw your own conclusions!!!
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Executive Summary of Security Report produced for Cromwell Oil in November 2007
Beowulf Integrity Ltd.
Your security is our top concern
Security Assessment: Oil Development Operations in Central Discordia
Executive Summary
• The security situation in Central Discordia has deteriorated significantly over the last six months and this trend is likely to continue. The growth of the Alwi Resistance Front (ARF) is the most obvious symptom but as the 2008 elections grow nearer it is likely that similar militias will arise elsewhere in the country, with the covert support of politicians who wish to have forces available to protect their interests in the event of their positions being marginalised through the elections. In the worst case the presence of these militias may themselves be a factor in triggering instability and a slide back into the anarchy that spawned the most recent civil war.
• The revenues that will be generated by Block 77 Development are themselves likely to be a factor in promoting resentment of central government and encouraging secessionist tendencies in Central Discordia.
• Though it is unlikely that the youths who kidnapped members of a Cromwell seismic party in April 2006 were formally linked to the ARF, the ease with whish these staff were snatched, and the very significant weaknesses that were thereby revealed in Cromwell’s security management, has clearly alerted others, including the ARF, to Cromwell’s vulnerability. Assessment on the ground by Beowulf specialists in June 2006 indicates that the improved security measures implemented since the kidnapping are largely cosmetic.
• A disturbing aspect of the April 2006 kidnapping was the behaviour of the Discordian security forces sent into the area to trace and liberate the victims. The units involved were ill-trained in both military operations and in management of relations with the local community and incompetence as much as malevolence was responsible for the skirmish in a village which was later proved to have had nothing to do with the kidnapping and in which some fifteen people (at a conservative estimate) were killed. The fact that the Discordian security units deployed to the area were mainly Kaba in origin, and antagonistic to the indigenous Alwi population, worsened the situation considerably.
• The kidnapping therefore highlights two problems for Cromwell Oil:
1) Cromwell personnel in the field are vulnerable and require effective protection as well as improved security procedures (including those governing travel, accommodation, field operations etc). These problems will increase exponentially if and when larger numbers of contractor personnel are deployed to Block 77 during the large scale drilling and construction campaigns that will be needed for full field development. In view of the growing ARF threat, protective measures must include well-trained security personnel trained in use of firearms and aware of the need to use them only in line with strictly-defined rules of engagement.
2) The Discordian Armed Forces cannot be relied upon to behave with restraint or even-handedness either when following up specific incidents or even when providing routine security. The proposal made by some Cromwell managers in Discordia that Cromwell fund training and equipment of the government security forces is superficially attractive but in the current climate of distrust between the various factions in the Interim Government is unlikely to be effective. In the event of failure the blame will attach internationally to Cromwell, not to any entity in Discordia.
• One solution to the above dilemma would be for Cromwell to establish its own armed protection force. Doing so would obviously require authorisation from the Interim Government and provision of credible assurances that the force would not be hijacked by some other group as the basis for a militia. Use of expatriate security experts, typically with a police or military background, for training and command of such a unit would be the best way of guaranteeing this.
• Beowulf Integrity will be pleased to work further with Cromwell Oil to establish what setting up such a security unit might involve in terms of numbers, timing and cost. Beowulf is in a position to provide staff with extensive relevant experience elsewhere in Africa, notably Angola, Namibia and South Africa.
Approved:
Jonathan Carruthers, Managing Director
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