Spicer seeking Afghanistan contract

I’m not sure this story from the Sunday Times’ Prufrock column isn’t conflating the episode in Papua New Guinea with the one in Sierra Leone, but it’s significant nevertheless:

Tim Spicer — the British lieutenant-colonel best known as the mercenary
who ran a private army during the 1997 Papua New Guinea insurgency,
thus breaking all the UN rules and being all but disowned by British
government — appears to be back in favour…

…now I am told that Aegis has made it on to the Foreign &
Commonwealth Office’s shortlist of companies to win a £40m contract to
provide security for workers in Afghanistan. (Sunday Times)

So nearly a decade on from the Arms to Africa affair, Tim Spicer is back in official favour while Craig Murray is persona non grata. It does make one wonder in hindsight what the real policy was.