Africans working in Iraq see opportunity and exploitation

Approximately 15,000 Ugandans have been deployed to Iraq since the US led invasion. Some call it lucrative work. Others call it slavery.

Rich Twinamatsiko looked contently at his herd of 15 cows grazing on the rolling highlands of south-western Uganda. Twinamatsiko (29) bought the cows with money he made working as a security guard in Iraq. He also purchased a plot of land where he cultivates corn, grain and matooke, a green banana that is the cornerstone of Ugandan diet. “I sell the food on the market,” Twinamatsiko said. Currently, he still lived on his parents’ farm – but not for long now. “I am using the profits to build my own house.”

An estimated 15,000 Ugandans have been deployed to Iraq by private security and recruitment agencies. The Ugandans protect military bases, airports and oil drills there. Ask any Ugandan: chances are he will have a family member, a friend or an acquaintance serving in Iraq.

War is business

The driving force behind the massive recruitment of Ugandans is the creeping privatisation of war. A trend catalysed by the British-American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The incessant search for affordable cleaners, mechanics and security guards has led the Americans to Africa, which has a surplus of labour and a weak job market. Here, Ugandans are scrambling to get jobs in Iraq, even though the salaries are constantly being reduced and the work environment is anything but pleasant, some claim.

“I earned 800 US dollars [555 euros] a month working in Iraq,” Twinamatsiko said. “Far more than most Ugandans do.” Twinamatsiko did his first tour in 2007, working for Dreshak, the company that has deployed the most Ugandans to Iraq so far, 8,000 in all. This time, he will be earning only 500 dollars a month. “Which is still a lot of money in Uganda,” Twinamatsiko said. Shortly after the interview, Twinamatsiko left for Baghdad to do a third tour as a contract worker there.

Twinamatsiko used to be a soldier in his own country. Uganda is home to many veterans from the 20 year conflict with the sectarian, militant Christian group Lord’s Resistance Army and the ‘African World War’ waged in the Congo between 1998 and 2003. Widespread military experience makes Uganda all the more suitable as a recruitment area. Moreover, many inhabitants of the former British colony speak decent English and Uganda is a military ally of the US.

The life of a king

In Ntungamo, a village near his farm, Twinamatsiko is a celebrated man. His baggy jeans, baseball cap and Manchester United football club necklace make him look like an American hip hop star compared to his peers. Most here earn only dollars a day driving around on the Ugandan version of the motorised rickshaw, known locally as the boda boda. Anybody who has been on kyeyo, an Ugandan term for leaving the country to earn money abroad, enjoys respect here.

Twinamatsiko may be doing fine, but not all Ugandans deployed to Iraq are. Some former security guards have accused their past employers of taking advantage of young Ugandan men.

“Ugandans are exploited in Iraq. This is modern day slavery,” said Gideon Tusigye (40), himself deployed to Iraq in 2006 and 2007 as an army physician. Like Twinamatsiko, he was under contract with Dreshak.

Deplorable conditions

Speaking in a union office in the Ugandan capital Kampala, Tusigye deplored the working conditions his compatriots were exposed to in Iraq. “Ugandans have to purchase their own equipment in Baghdad. They stand guard for ten hours straight in the burning sun and are packed into tents like sardines in a can,” he said

Sam Lyomoki, a member of parliament who has long been a champion of employees’ rights, called for an inquiry into the maltreatment of Ugandans in Iraq in April of 2008. His motion has yet to make it to the parliament floor.

Dreshak’s managing director, the Pakistani Zain Ul Arfin Ahmed, said his company was only responsible for recruitment in Uganda. “We are not responsible for what happens in Iraq,” he added.

The Ugandan contract workers shouldn’t count on the Ugandan government for support. The ministry of employment has approved numerous pay cuts by recruitment agencies. The average salary has decreased from 1,200 dollars in 2005 to less than 500 dollars today. The ministry has said it hopes to prevent the Americans from seeking workers elsewhere in Africa.

“They lie,” said Lyomoki. “These companies, which are often politically connected, are looking to turn a profit at the expense of Ugandans.” Mwesigwa Rukutana, who was minister of employment until last year, owned a company that recruited Ugandans for work in Iraq himself. Rukutana is now minister of higher education.

Askar Security Services, which has deployed 5,000 soldiers, is run by the sister-in-law of general Salim Saleh, who is the brother and military advisor of the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni. Critics have accused Askar of tribal nepotism. The company recruits many of its workers from the ranks of the Banyankole people who live in the Museveni region.A spokesperson defending the policy, said employees “tend to feel at home with people from their own region” .

Recruitment agencies currently have their eye on Afghanistan, which they hope will provide them with new business once Americans withdraw from Iraq.

“Dear Lord, we pray to thee for Rich’s healthy return,” a local Anglican preacher said, as he led Twinamatsiko and his family into prayer after dinner at their home. Below the weak glow of a single light bulb, a laptop screened a slideshow of pictures of his last deployment to Baghdad. The laptop drew power from a small generator. Electricity on an African hill, sponsored by the Iraq war.