Defence Systems Limited.

Formed in 1981 by the former second in command of Britain's elite Special Air Service (SAS) Defence Systems Limited (DSL) describe themselves as a Private Security Military Contractor (PSMC) which is a polite and legal way of saying that they provide mercenaries to anyone who wants to start a war. With their head office just across the road from Buckingham Palace they initially built their business providing security for the City of London Corporation which is just a trading name for the British Royal Family. DSL then began to expand their operations by working alongside infamous South African PSMC, Executive Outcomes. After Executive Outcomes were forced out of business due to legal issues and the fall of apartheid DSL emerged as the main supplier of military contractors to British Petroleum (BP).

This allowed DSL to expand their business throughout South America, the former USSR and South East Asia. Their main area of operations though is in sub-Saharan Africa where they've provided services to British oil and mining companies in countries like Nigeria, Uganda, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Niger. From their regional headquarters in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo they've been accused of providing mercenaries to all sides involved in the multitude of armed conflicts that have gripped the DRC since the early 1990's. However DSL's greatest hits if you like include;

• In 1984 they were accused of assisting Executive Outcomes in the massacre of MPLA rebels on behalf of UNITA rebels in Angola.

• In 1986 they were accused of attempting to assassinate the Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni on behalf Milton Obote's regime.

• In 1997 they were implicated in the other Sandline scandal when another British PSMC, Sandline were caught supplying mercenaries to the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia that now form the basis of the Charles Taylor war crimes trial. Sandline were accused of supplying Taylor's opponents while DSL were accused of supporting him
  

• In 1998 the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning a Colombian subsidiary of DSL called Defence Systems Columbia (DSC) for funding, training and arming Colombian death squads.

So if there are African mercenaries running around Libya massacring civilians there's a good chance that they've been provided by DSL rather then the Libyan government.

It is also rumoured that DSL consultants have secretly been operating in Libya as part of the 2009 deal that BAE won to provide the Libyan military with communications equipment. If true this would allow DSL excellent access to the Libyan military establishment providing them with the opportunity to both "turn" key figures and send out false messages across the Libyan military communications networks.