The leaked US embassy cables not only show that the US is concerned about the love affair between African governments and China, but also uncovered secret dealings in smoke-filled rooms between African governments and Beijing. Such back-door-dealings between Namibia and China is one of the latest diplomatic cables to be made public by Wikileaks. If the claim that 5 000 Chinese families were re-settled in Namibia as a result of the Namibian Government not being able to repay a Chinese loan is true, this indeed suggests a trend of secrecy and back-door-deals between the Namibian government and their Chinese counterparts.
The was revealed to the US ambassador Josiah Rosenblatt by Allain Fénéon, a French lawyer who facilitates foreign companies in Africa, during a meeting with former Togolese President Koba (who was recruited to work for Fénéon’s law firm after he fled into exile when he was removed from office in April 2005). Apparently they were discussing the growing influence of China in Africa when the example of Namibia came up.
In the diplomatic cable, US Ambassador Rosenblatt writes that Fénéon claimed that 5 000 Chinese families were resettled in Namibia after Namibia could not afford to repay a Chinese loan. The Chinese, he said, quickly told Namibia, “Don’t worry about it. Just give us 5 000 passports and residency documents.”
This type of back-door deal with China is not the first time for Namibia or Africa in general. Under a similar veil of secrecy in 2009, Informante, a tabloid-like Namibian paper, revealed that the Beijing government has secretly awarded scholarships to study in China to the offspring of senior government and Swapo-party officials , including to the daughter of Namibia’s president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, and two young relatives of Namibia’s former president Sam Nujoma.
The disclosure of the scholarships deal seems to have caught the Namibian government and the ministry of education off guard because they had no official explanation as to the scholarship requirement and selection criteria.
And then there is a case of $700,000 which allegedly was channeled to Lt. Gen. Martin Shalli, the commander of Namibia’s defense force by a Chinese weapons company. Namibia’s president suspended General Shalli from his post in July, but no charges or prosecutionhave yet transpired. In another China- related corruption case, the Namibian anti-corruption body investigation alleged that a state-controlled Chinese contractor, Hu Haifeng, the son of President Hu Jintao, ran a scanner company, and had facilitated a $55.3 million deal to sell the Namibian government security scanners with millions of dollars in kickbacks.
Needless to say, this latest revelation by Wikileaks seems to confirm the pattern by the Chinese government using its loans and aid to win favor with political elites especially when it comes to tender procurement.
