President Dahir Riyaale’s South African Connection

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President Dahir Riyaale’s South African Connection

 

 

Democracy Action Group (DAW) Somaliland: President Dahir Riyaale’s South African Connection

 

The South African media, not known for giving adequate coverage to both Somalia and Somaliland in the past, began reporting about developments in Somaliland by 2000. In addition to the media coverage, the South African politicians, through the well connected Mvelaphanda founder, Tokyo Saxwell, availed the necessary political platforms for Somaliland politicians and citizens to promote their cause. The South African government also supported and financed South African election monitors to oversee both the Council elections and the presidential elections held in Somaliland in 2002 and 2003 respectively. South African delegations also delivered limited aid to Somaliland.

 

Apart from this new relationship spurred by business interests, Somaliland had a past with South Africa. Somaliland played a big role in the struggle against apartheid in the seventies and eighties. The honorable Abby Farah, originally from Somaliland, led a UN fact-finding team to South Africa in 1989, which met with leaders such as the late ANC stalwart Walter Sisulu. South Africa also provided medical assistance for the late President Mohamad Ibrahim Egal (Rahmatullah Alayh) who died on May 3, 2002.

 

South Africa’s recent announcement in November 2004 recognizing the right for self determination for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic gave additional hope to Somaliland which already enjoyed a favorable stand with the South African government. President Dahir Riyaale, emboldened by this favorable environment, declared his visit to South Africa to promote the country’s cause. In a pub;ic just before his departure, President Dahir Riyaale announced that his the purpose of his visit to South Africa was primarily to get acquainted with South Africa’s democratization process. But reliable sources inside Somaliland claim that his visit was intended to further his business investments and gain political kudos that could give his party the upper hand in the upcoming parliamentary elections. These sources claim that the composition of the presidential delegation reflects the president’s real agenda. Excluding the Foreign Minister, who had a previously scheduled speech at a South African university, the Information Minister and the Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Development were the only senior members in the presidential delegation.

 

Many political observers are of the opinion that the president’s visit was motivated by a business agenda rather than a political one, considering the suddenness of the trip and its 11 day span, an uncommon diplomatic privilege for the head of an unrecognized state. These views were further strengthened by the president’s only speech after his return. President Riyaale, in a short speech to the nation upon his return to the country on February 12th, 2005 summarized his trip to South Africa in a single statement: “ Three South African companies will soon invest in Somaliland and create more jobsâ€. In his speech the president promised that the Minister of Information will issue a detailed statement, but Somalilanders are still waiting to be briefed.

 

In an exclusive interview with Benedicta Dube on 28 February 2005 and posted on Business in Africa Online on March 5th, 2005, President Dahir seemed to be emphasizing the business aspects of his trip. President Dahir Riyaale dandled the carrot of potential oil, gas, coal, gypsum and marine resources to interest Malaveland; a strategy which could adversely affect Somaliland due to the lack of governmental transparency policies, a non-inclusive approach towards national issues the lack of an effective and independent auditing.

 

Though President Riyaale met with local South African politicians and religious and civil society leaders, he spent most of his visit in meetings with the business elite of Mvelphanda and other subsidiaries. He met with Tokyo Saxwell, the controversial founder of Mvelphanda, Jonathan Oppenheimer of the Ppenheimer family who owns the giant De Beers diamond company, Mr. Vusi Mavimbela, Director of Business Strategy in charge of driving the continental expansion strategy of the company and other business executives. Mavelphanda, one of South Africa’s investment powerhouses and a leader in and mineral exploration in South Africa, announced in January Oppenheimer of the De Beers Diamond Giant 2005 that it is planning to spearhead South Africa’s ambitious oil explorations into African countries including Mozambique, Angola and Somaliland “The South African Business DayJanuary24, 2005".

 

Tokyo Saxwel, the founder of Maveland and a veteran ANC leader, is mired in controversies since the consolidation of the company in 1998. In January 2004 the US and the UN declared that his company had been among 270 individuals, organizations and companies that had received oil allocations and vouchers from Saddam Hussein, in violation of the UN imposed embargoon Iraq. Many South African businessmen also accuse him of benefitting from his close friendship with the South African Prime Minister, Thomas Mbeki.

 

President Dahir Riyale had also a brief meeting with Mr. Vusi Mavimbela, the company’s Director of Business Strategy. Mr. Mavimbela was South Africa’s Director General of the National Intelligence Agency from 1999 till late 2004. He joined Mvelaphanda in January 2005 to spearhead the company’s expansion strategy into Africa. Mr. Mvimbela is one of the closest political, security and intelligence advisors to the South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, since 1994. Immediatelt upon his appointment as the Director of the National Intelligence Agency, the South African government was accused of spying against the German Embassy and the opposition Democratic party. Many in South Africa saw this as the blueprint of operandi for the new intelligence director. During his directorship of the South African spy agency, NIA, Mr. Mavimbela did not hide his belief the any country’s intelligence resources must be used to promote its government policies and the objectives of the business corporations.

 

This cozy relationship between the government, the corporations and the intelligence services worried democracy advocates in South Africa. Similarly, political observers and democracy activists inside Somaliland rightly worry about the close relationship between Mr. Vusi Mavimbela and President Dahir Riyaale; both career intelligence officers before becoming business and political leaders respectively.

 

The first phase of the push into Somaliland by Mvelphanda is already underway with the blessing of President Dahir Riyaale. In his speech at a dinner hosted by the Muslim Judicial Council in Cape Town, President Dahir Riyaale said “ We appreciate how South African companies such as Mvelephanda Holdings have attained our oil concessions, how your well placed mineral companies such as Plat Min are beginning gem stone mining and how South Africa’s telecommunications sector have installed satellite technology, which gives us broadband, 24-hour internet access at times faster than some homes in Cape Town or Pretoriaâ€. “Somaliland Government Press Release, February 1st, 2005".

 

What the president failed to mention is that he already owns considerable shares in Anglo Platinum of South Africa, the world’s leading Platinum producer. Anglo Platinum is closely connected to the De Beers diamond (owns 45% of De Beers shares) company run by Jonathan Oppenheimer who met President Dahir Riyaale while in South Africa.

 

Business sources inside Somaliland also claim that president Dahir Riyaale secretly met with a business executive from Mvelaphanda to diversify his investment portfolio in South Africa. The president’s investments in South Africa were initiated by President Omar Gelle of Djibouti who convinced him to diversify into the lucrative South African business markets instead of concentrating on real estate in the Gulf, Europe and North America.

 

Ismail Omar Guelleh initiated the first South African business investment on behalf of President Dahir Riyaale in the summer of 2002 in Durban, South Africa. This coincided with President Guelleh’s meeting with UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan during the later’s visit to South Africa on July 6th, 2002 to attend the OAU/AU general meeting. Throughout 2003 President Guelleh was the defacto business consultant of President Dahir Riyaale in all South African business transactions.

 

This mutual partnership continued despite President Guelleh’s declared anti-Somaliland stand. In an interview with IRIN in Djibouti on 29th October 2003, when asked about his relations with Somaliland, he responded: “It is going the same way as the south – there are now fundamentalists who want to destabilize the situation. Unless the south is stable, Somaliland cannot be stable, contrary to what they think… And of course we support a united Somalia. We cannot allow ourselves to advocate secession.†To contain President Guelleh stand against Somaliland, President Dahir Riyaale paid him a visit on November 14th 2003 but to no avail. The anti-Somaliland stand of President Guelleh did not affect his business partnership with Somalilan’s president. On the contrary, it flourished and extended into the South African markets.

 

President Guelleh’s investments and business dealings in South Africa increased significantly by 2003. In mid 2005 he became infuriated over being implicitly tied to enquiries in France in the mysterious death of the French magistrate Bernard Borrel in October 1995. As a result of the Frenchs stand on the case, President Guelleh further increased his business involvement and indirectly mounted an assault on French interests ib Djibouti and South Africa. He started his assault with the French company; TotalFinaElf by buying into a rival South African company who competed for mineral prospecting in South Africa.

 

The French company lost the bid as a result of President Guelleh’s aggressive investment in the competing South African mineral resource company with aid of additional funds from President Dahir Riyaale’s allocated investment funds. With President Dahir Riyaale’ recent visit to South Africa, his meeting with Mavelaphanda and Dee Beers tycoons, many observers expect that both Ismail Omar Guelleh and Dahir Riyaale will expand their investment portfolio beyond the South African resource company to include other investments in France and Abu Dhabi.

 

Many Somaliland observers and concerned citizens also worry about the implications of this Mavelphanda-Riyaale connection. In his speech to the Muslim Judicial Council in Cape Town, President Riyaale mentioned that South African oil companies including Mvelphanda, already have oil exploration concessions. The president also mentioned that other South African companies are already into the satellite telecommunication sector in Somalilnd, while other South African companies are already investing in mineral exploration including platinum, gem stones and other rare metals in Somaliland “Somaliland Government Press Release, February 1st, 2005".

 

Neither the details of these investments and oil and mineral resource explorations, nor the involvement of Mvelphanda with the blessing of the president, were ever mentioned, discused or debated inside Somaliland’s House of Representatives or the Senate.

 

Therefore, many Somalilanders believe that President Dahir Riyaale MUST clarify the scope of his involvement with Mvelaphanda, the details of the oil and mineral resource exploration agreements and the whether he have investments or vested interests in South African companies who were granted concession rights in Somaliland?

 

Why Jonathan Oppenheimer, considered to be the richest man in Africa “ The Economist July 15th, 2004" and the scion of the De Beers diamond dynasty that controls 60% of the world’s $US8.3 billion market share in rough diamonds, would easily entertain an audience with President Riyaale of Somaliland?

 

Many in the trade and several countries including the US consider De Beers's system of doing business highly secretive “The Cartel isn’t Forever, The Economist July 15th, 2004". Would President Riyaale succumb to this conditional secrecy of doing business with De Beers and leave Somaliland’s democratic institutions and the public in the dark? And at what cost to his political future?

 

Regarding the oil exploration concessions, oil industry investors are aware of the exploration licenses granted to Conoco, along with Amoco, Chevron, Phillips and Shell in 1986. All sought and obtained exploration licenses for northern Somalia from Siad Barre's government. Somalia was soon carved up into concession blocs, with Conoco, Amoco and Chevron winning the right to explore and exploit the most promising ones.

 

What are the implications of granting the same rights to Mvelaphanda of South Africa? What are the details of these new concessions and what adverse implications they might have on Somaliland’s integrity in the international markets in future oil explorations negotiations?

 

The public and the country’s institutions deserve to have answers for these questions from President Dahir Riyaale.

 

Source:

Mohamad Doaleh

mdoaleh@yahoo.com

Democracy Action Watch/ Somaliland