Blackwater founder Erik Prince reportedly cut a deal with South Sudan to provide bombs, attack helicopters, and train 4,000 soldiers
Unbeknownst to company leadership at Hong Kong-based logistics and aviation company Frontier Services Group (FSG), when Erik Prince, the founder of private security services company Blackwater, cut a deal with the South Sudanese government in 2014, he offered up much more than assistance surveilling oil fields. Though on paper the contract "was for logistical support and camp building, things to support the oil fields," The Intercept reports that Prince "verbally promised" the South Sudanese government a "foreign mercenary force" loyal to President Kiir that one source says included bombs, attack planes, and training for 4,000 soldiers.
The project — which The Intercept reports was essentially "Erik Prince's vision of contemporary warfare on the African continent" — was code-named Iron Fist:
Prince is currently the subject of a U.S. government investigation.
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