Spy cables reveal threat on the life of African Union’s chief

What you need to know:

  • On October 22, a week after Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became AUC chairperson, the Spy Cables show that South African intelligence headquarters received information about a possible assassination attempt.
  • The South Africans discussed the need to make “an overall intervention for the security of the AUC Chair”, but doing so in a diplomatic manner to “avoid creating the impression that South Africa was declaring a vote of no confidence on the handing of AUC Chairperson’s security” by Ethiopia.
  • The Spy Cables report that the Director of Foreign Service at Ethiopia’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Mr Hadera Abera, explained that his service crosschecked the names of the plotters with “all entry points especially those bordering Sudan”.

ADDIS ABABA, Thursday

Secret intelligence documents leaked to Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit reveal that spies in Addis Ababa were alerted to a plot by “an unnamed state” to kill a top African Union diplomat.

Ethiopian agents later accused Sudan of involvement in the plan to assassinate African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who had previously served as South Africa’s foreign minister.

Dlamini-Zuma allegedly faced “an eminent threat” to her life in the Ethiopian capital which also hosts the headquarters of the African Union in October 2012, just days after she was appointed.

The documents show that South African and Ethiopian intelligence agencies had been unprepared for the threat, for which they blamed Sudan. The agencies admitted they did not have enough time to “neutralise the operation” or apprehend those involved.

The documents also describe how unarmed African Union (AU) bodyguards “slept in corridors for four days without food or water provided,” because the AU “did not arrange accommodation and resources for food”.

On October 22, a week after Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became AUC chairperson, the Spy Cables show that South African intelligence headquarters received information about a possible assassination attempt.

It quickly relayed the details to the embassy in Addis Ababa, and that evening, the South African ambassador briefed Dlamini-Zuma, telling her “there might be some changes in the protection arrangements”.

WITHIN 2 DAYS

He had expected an attack within the following two days.

South Africa’s top spy in Addis Ababa then called Ethiopia’s intelligence chief. He left a message, and an hour later got a call back.

Just before 10pm, Ethiopia’s spy boss was informed of the threat, and the two men agreed to beef up the South African diplomat’s security. Four extra bodyguards were sent to her hotel the following morning.

On the day the attack was expected, all the spies could do is watch, wait and hope that the security they had deployed could protect the life of the chairperson.

Amid the crisis, South Africa’s security chiefs held an emergency meeting, also chronicled in the Spy Cables. The acting head of South African military intelligence, General T Nyembe, told his colleagues that “an unnamed state” was behind the plot, and warned that there had been “another alert which further pointed out a potential assassination plot… to be carried out at a different venue.”

The South Africans discussed the need to make “an overall intervention for the security of the AUC Chair”, but doing so in a diplomatic manner to “avoid creating the impression that South Africa was declaring a vote of no confidence on the handing of AUC Chairperson’s security” by Ethiopia.

The day passed without any attack. The following morning, the South Africans met their Ethiopian counterparts and were told, for the first time, of Sudan’s suspected involvement in the plot.

The Spy Cables report that the Director of Foreign Service at Ethiopia’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Mr Hadera Abera, explained that his service crosschecked the names of the plotters with “all entry points especially those bordering Sudan”.

They found no matches, and the Spy Cables do not reveal the names of the plotters.

Another secret document recorded Mr Hadera saying that in his service’s assessment, Sudan “would not carry out such operations” as it had “paid dearly in the attempted assassination of Egypt former President Mubarak.”

There is no explanation of how Sudan had “paid dearly,” but the state was linked to the attack on Mubarak in Addis Ababa in 1995.

Mr Hadera reassured the South Africans that “there has been never a threat that developed into a situation where a diplomat is killed in Addis Ababa with the exception of the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak whose life was threatened in 1987.” (Al Jazeera)