Dr Hussein Solomon, Senior Professor at the University of Free State’s Centre for Gender and African Studies, reviewed the expanded and updated edition of “Composite Warfare: The Conduct of Successful Ground Force Operations in Africa” and comes to the conclusion defence policymakers across the continent should heed its “sage words”.
It was first published in 2015 by Eeben Barlow, who founded private military contractor (PMC) Executive Outcomes after serving in the then SA Defence Force (SADF) and its military intelligence component. He is widely recognised as being on top of strategic, operational and tactical concepts of war in and on Africa.
Of the updated edition, Solomon writes in The Citizen: “The revised and expanded 2025 edition of ‘Composite Warfare’ speaks to African conditions and arose out of the author’s successful engagement across a myriad of African battlefields”.
“It is bottom-up, it is flexible and speaks to offensive, defensive and containment strategies.
“Moreover, the whole-of-government approach speaks to the reality of more comprehensive approaches to address much of the insurgencies scarring African nations, where a military approach needs to be combined with both better governance and economic development.
“The author demonstrates the mastery of his subject by effortlessly straddling strategic, operational and tactical concepts.
“To the uninitiated on the complexity of the African theatres of conflict, there are case studies and maps and figures which clarify the concepts deployed.”
Solomon’s review reads further: “One of the great strengths of the book lies in its ability to simplify complex strategic phenomenon and therefore will be ideal to be used as a prescribed text for every military college”.
“Another great advantage of the book is the logical sequence in which it was structured. It is clear to me that the author took tremendous care in setting out the context of the African battlespace, providing much-needed background on the nature of conflict and war in Africa.
“Parts II and III then take the reader through conventional and unconventional manoeuvres covering such diverse areas as the advance, the attack the defence, armed anti-government conflicts, guerrilla warfare and the planning of counter-anti-government operations.
“Part IV, comprising five chapters, focuses on composite warfare operations.
“It is in this section where one vividly sees how the whole-of-government approach works in practice from the principles of composite warfare to unconventional mobile operations and the African pillars of war, to structuring ground forces for composite warfare operations, as well as reflections on how to respond to issues of stability in Africa’s fragile and failed states.
“The numerous appendices, some never before published, add to the value of this work.
“This book is a tour de force and with it, Barlow has cemented his reputation as Africa’s best strategic studies thinker and practitioner. Will policymakers listen to the sage words of Eeben Barlow?” Hussein asks.
defenceWeb was granted permission by both Solomon and The Citizen to use extracts from the review, published on 18 June.
