Behind+quiet+diplomacy,+James+Myburgh,+Moneyweb

Moneyweb, 24 April 2007
=Behind ‘quiet diplomacy’=

//What motivated Mandela’s “softly-softly” approach towards the Abacha regime//


 * James Myburgh**

The South African government's consistent [|refusal] to condemn the Abacha regime in Nigeria through the course of 1995 was regarded with incomprehension by commentators and Nigerian opposition figures alike.

The ANC fobbed off calls for it to "toughen its stance" with various excuses. One of these was that they didn't "want to push the Nigerian government into a corner. They are prickly people and pressure might make them worse." Another was that South Africa was concerned not with courting publicity but "to solve problems." A third was, as Nelson Mandela put it, " Nigeria has been very generous to us in the course of our struggle."

The exiled Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka expressed his astonishment, in October 1995, at this failure "to distinguish between the oppressive state and the people. They are not criticising Nigeria publicly for the very ironic reason that they feel they owe Nigeria a debt for its stand against apartheid. But how can they be so naïve as to not recognise the fact that their debt of gratitude is to the people and not to a government which is oppressing those very people."

Even once Mandela had reversed his policy, following the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa on the 10th of November, he remained unapologetic about his earlier approach: "In my view it was absolutely correct" he said, "especially for us in the ANC. We don't forget the role Nigeria played in our struggle."

What was odd about this statement, Phillip van Niekerk observed at the time, was that Abacha had imprisoned some of the ANC's strongest supporters during the apartheid period, such as Mashood Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo.

The full truth behind this policy of ‘quiet diplomacy' only emerged several years later. In January 2001Tayo Odunlami reported in //The News// ( Lagos ) that Abacha had given the ANC tens of millions of dollars, looted from the state treasury, to help fund its 1994 election campaign.

In a July 2000 affidavit Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, a crony of Abacha on trial for his role in the theft of billions of dollars from Nigeria, had claimed that some of these funds, "were employed towards contributing to President Mandela's of South Africa elections of 1994. It was in the sum of 50 million US dollars". Odunlami was quick to link this "Greek gift" from Abacha with the "unusual behaviour of the ANC leaders during Nigeria 's democratic struggle."

South Africa 's foreign policy was certainly for sale at the time, and it probably still is. The ANC itself acknowledged that it had funded its 1994 election campaign with donations from foreign sources. In August 1994 Deputy President Thabo Mbeki admitted that the ANC had, up until this point, sustained //"//ourselves on the basis of donations by foreign governments and supporters" something which was unlikely to continue in perpetuity.

Despite the staggering amounts it received in foreign currency, it was still left with a post-election overdraft of tens of millions of rand. The organisation also had a huge bureaucracy which it had to continue support. In July 1994 it had 1 200 full time staff in its Johannesburg headquarters alone.

In a [|report] to the ANC's national conference in December 1997 the Treasurer General's office stated the "ANC had largely depended on friendly countries and institutions for its funds" and was "dependent on the President's initiatives and those of some officials for income."

Two of the ANC's biggest donors, in the 1990s, were Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and President Suharto of Indonesia. Not only did Mandela refrain from criticising their lamentable human rights records but he interceded diplomatically on their behalf, and awarded them South Africa 's highest honour. Suharto was awarded a state visit, a 21-gun salute, and The Order of Good Hope (gold class).

In April 1999 Mandela acknowledged to an audience in Johannesburg that Suharto had given the ANC a total of 60 million dollars. An initial donation of 50 million dollars had been followed up by a further 10 million. //The Telegraph// ( London ) reported that Gaddafi was known to have given the ANC well over ten million dollars.

Mandela defended his embrace of Gaddafi, as he did other dictators who gave the ANC money, on the basis that "He helped us at a time when we were all alone, when those who are now saying we should not come here were helping our enemies." The case of Taiwan suggests that a large enough donation could buy anyone, even the National Party government's closest foreign allies, an ‘anti-apartheid' pedigree.

In March 2002 //Next// magazine ( Taipei ) revealed that Taiwan had, in June 1994, made an ten million dollar payment to the ANC from a secret slush fund. Citing "diplomatic sources" the magazine claimed that a senior official from the ANC had approached the Taiwanese president after Mandela's inauguration and "proposed conditions to us", saying that if Taiwan would give the ANC 20 million dollars to pay off it's election debt the new government "would continue to maintain relations with Taiwan for a year-and-a-half to two years longer." After some haggling over the price an agreement was reached, and "both sides finally agreed on a figure of 11 million dollars." (//Mail & Guardian// 22 March 2002)

Eugene Loh I-cheng, Taiwan 's last ambassador to South Africa, confirmed that the Taiwanese government had approved the payment on the 20 June 1994, and he had handed over the money "in small denominations of South African rand to a senior member of Mandela's inner circle." Loh identified one contact as Thomas Nkobi, the ANC Treasurer General, but according to the //Washington Post// Mbeki was also involved in the transaction.

In July 1996 Mandela defended his decision to delay breaking off ties with Taiwan on the basis that that country "supported us during the later phase of the struggle (against apartheid) ... It is not easy for me to be assisted by a country, and once I come to power, I say: ‘I have no relations with you'."


 * From: http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page66309?oid=87681&sn=Detail**

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