Bell Pottinger has picked up a $5.7M contract extension through November for its ongoing PR work for the United Nations in Somalia, a push the London-based firm kicked off in 2009.
The firm’s work is with the African Union Mission to Somalia, known as AMISOM, and involves a range of strategic communications programs to win over hearts and minds in the embattled Horn of Africa nation.
Bell Pottinger contracts out the operation of a radio station in the country to London-based Albany Associates.
The firm’s total pact is worth more than $21M through 2013, according to UN records. BP has worked Africa PR efforts in Zambia, Gabon and South Africa.
While the firm works the PR beat in Somalia, the Los Angeles Times reported July 29 that the U.S. is the driving force behind the military effort there, training Africa troops from countries like Sierra Leone to battle Islamist militants linked to Al Qaeda ally Shabab.
"Officially, the troops are under the auspices of the African Union," reports the Times. "But in truth, according to interviews by U.S. and African officials and senior military officers and budget documents, the 15,000-strong force pulled from five African countries is largely a creation of the State Department and Pentagon, trained and supplied by the U.S. government and guided by dozens of retired foreign military personnel hired through private contractors."
Tim Bell bought back Bell Pott from Chime Communications in May in a $32M deal.