Between 2010 and 2015, Erik Prince joined with the Ugandan based PMC firm Saracen International to establish aviation operations across the African continent, which was then used as a front for a range of private military activities, as well as training of local military and police forces. It spread to provide private African foot soldiers for military contracts in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia, Mogadishu, Afghanistan, and Iraq. During this time Prince purchased several aviation companies, including Nairobi based Phoenix Aviation. All along, Phoenix remained a recipient of multi-million dollar contracts from the United Nations.

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Saracen Uganda, New Recruits Waiting for Transport to Mogadishu in Kampala, Uganda, 2017.