The 'Safari Club' in Africa: Adventures While Peoples Were Unaware

25-7-2018

It reminds me — as news circulated — of the United Arab Emirates’ attempt to control maritime routes around the African continent, rich in buried wealth and strategic locations on the oceans and seas, by purchasing concessions, taking long-term leases, or owning ports on the Red Sea in Djibouti and Somalia, and on the coasts of East Africa and the southern shores of Yemen, in addition to Eritrea... and the matter of some Egyptian islands that were returned to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as its former owner, according to Egypt’s announcement... This reminded me of the eagerness of some other countries, foremost among them Israel, to establish a foothold in certain West and East African states. For example, the value of Israeli companies’ investments in Angola alone was estimated in the early years of this century at about 1 billion dollars... and the entry of China and Turkey into that sphere in Sudan and other African countries, not to mention the renewed old intense competition between the United States of America and France, which claims it is connected to Africa by relationships of inheritance resulting from the French empire, since many countries speak French — about half of Africa, according to France’s claim. Each of the two great powers has men in power in Africa: just as the United States supported "Joseph Mobutu" in the past in the Congo, and how the American Central Intelligence Agency helped him to arrest one of the symbols of Congolese independence, "Patrice Lumumba," in the Katanga region, rich in natural resources such as diamonds and copper... where "Mobutu" was able to kill "Lumumba" and saw him with a saw and distribute his pieces into the river... where his body was not found... and between France’s support in the past — in a state of compensating for its lost empire by new means — to Emperor Bokassa of the Central African Republic... and how this emperor showered diamonds and emeralds on French politicians in Paris, in addition to the existence of companies from both France and the United States that pillage the wealth of allied African countries. And still... in truth, France considers Africa a “preserve” — a title with great implications for African wealth...

The “preserve” in Africa, as has been said, had old roots of pursuit, in the early 1970s, when documents and papers found in the Shah’s offices in his palace in Tehran, after he was exiled to Egypt following the Iranian Revolution, revealed the text of a treaty bearing the signatures of four intelligence men from four countries, authorized by their presidents and kings to sign this secret agreement under the supervision of the head of the French external intelligence office — State Security — Count Alexandre de Marenches, who secretly visited Tehran in early 1971. He offered the Shah at that time to work with others in Africa, since it was perceived as being threatened at that time by the Soviet Union and China, in addition to Africa being a natural depth and open gateway to the Middle East, and he held about six meetings in Tehran during that period, between January and March 1971. In addition to Iran and France, the club included Egypt through its then intelligence official Dr. Ashraf Marwan, Saudi Arabia represented by its then intelligence chief Sheikh Kamal Adham, Morocco represented by General Ahmed Dlimi, also the head of intelligence in his country at that time, and General Nematollah Nassiri, representing SAVAK — the Iranian intelligence — at that time as well. The Shah of Iran was encouraged to enter Africa under France’s supervision and in cooperation with the other mentioned Arab countries, since his father — who was exiled to South Africa and died there — had large businesses and companies. The duties of the parties to this secret agreement were to confront the dangers arising from the recent incidents in Angola and other parts of Africa at that time, so they had to confront and thwart them through the “Safari Club” group mentioned. There was a special operations center entrusted with implementing the agreement, based in Cairo. This center was tasked with determining operational priorities and the fields requiring urgent attention, planning the operations to be executed to support France’s men in Africa, and also providing assistance to the United States’ men in Africa if needed, and appointing who would manage and supervise it. This headquarters became ready to operate in New Egypt in Cairo on 1-9-1976... Saudi Arabia was tasked with providing funding, Morocco with preparing special forces and field groups, Iran with planning, execution and financing, and France with supplying units with weapons, technological means and sufficient information related to operations to enable precise planning of this effort... It is worth noting that the name of this group — Safari — was coined by Saudi Arabia’s representative, its intelligence chief at the time Sheikh "Kamal Adham".

The Safari carried out several actions. For example: it was one of the main elements supporting General (Mobutu) when he seized the Katanga region in the Congo, intending to secure the region’s diamond and copper mines, rich in those resources...
It helped former Somali President "Siad Barre" in his military attempt against Ethiopia and its then-communist government: "Mengistu Haile Mariam"... and this information, as we mentioned earlier, was found in 1981 in the Shah’s office drawers after his departure into exile, where these papers revealed that Egypt sold weapons to Somalia during former Somali President "Siad Barre"’s days for the amount of 75 million dollars, and Saudi Arabia financed that deal. The papers also showed that the United States and Israel were to be informed of the group’s activities at the direction of the French — the Safari —... all of that was done... but when the time came for the spoils, the Arab parties were not there... rather Israel was there, establishing a partnership with Angola as we mentioned... in more than 300 sites for diamond prospecting...

It is worth noting that the Soviets at that time obtained sensitive documents about the Safari Group’s activities in Africa after a secret Safari conference in Casablanca, via a Soviet agent who stole General "Nematollah Nassiri"’s briefcase — the SAVAK official — which was on the seat beside him while he waited at Casablanca airport for a flight... where his wife awaited him... for a holiday on the Riviera... In addition, the Soviets were also able to obtain documents on the Safari Group in Africa from one of Count de Marenches’ aides — the head of the French State Security office. This aide was a colonel in the French external intelligence and apparently a Soviet agent; when this was discovered he either committed suicide or was killed....
The struggles over raw materials, oil and minerals in the past created a war between agents of the United States and France, and the conflicts between the two powers reached the point of desecrating the Great Lakes region by exploiting ethnicities, races and tribes, turning the heart of Africa (Rwanda) into a bloody flood that recolored the lakes’ waters red... It is worth noting that accusations were leveled at France and the United States for inflaming hatred among tribes in "Rwanda" — each of the two powers supported one side against the other... The massacres in the early period were estimated at 800,000 bodies from one tribe in 1994... their corpses floated on the surface of the lakes, and the number of victims at that time reached up to five million victims, while neither the United States nor the United Nations intervened to help stop the massacres... nor, of course, France... These massacres remain a shame on humanity’s brow... but the reason is the struggle over wealth, as at the beginning, after the Rwandan president’s plane was shot down in the forested bush by a tribe supported by France, according to information drawn from many sources. This is the struggle over raw materials, minerals and wealth that is renewing now, through Arab countries that finance — where some pay and other countries collect the spoils — exactly as in the past with the “Safari Club”... which ended with the Shah’s fall and the departure of the intelligence chiefs of the Arab signatory states... but it is being renewed now by multiple methods, away from the eyes of the peoples, where countries are commissioned... by other countries to pave the way and gather the spoils....

The information is drawn from several works, the most important of which is by the famous late journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, and some newspapers and publications...