Most embassies have them: they are the peacocks of the diplomatic cocktail parties in their number 1 uniform, chests covered in medals. They are, of course, the military attachés.
What do they do? Well there are certain liaison jobs to be done for countries with soldiers in the UN peace-keeping force here. But that’s hardly a full time job, and not nearly as glamorous as being a spy, so spying it is.
Of course the actual spying is done by other people, the assets. The game is to have as many assets as possible, spread throughout the country. But once one has an asset there are three problems: the first is to know how trustworthy he is (is he really on our side?), the second is to know how accurate his information is (does he know what he is talking about, or is he making it up?) and the third is how and how much to pay him. And if you have 200 or so assets, that’s enough to keep you pretty busy.
The first two questions can be resolved by treating his information with much caution for the first year or so, and cross checking it with other people. That soon sorts out the good ones from the bad. It needs patience, but is essential. The third one is a serious problem for three reasons. The first is that one doesn’t want to have any traceable link with the person concerned. The second is that one must minimise the occasions when one meets. The third is that in a big country like this one just to make any arrangements to send cash are very complicated.
So when you see the Military Attaché drawing several thousand dollars at the embassy cashier ask no questions and get no lies. It is thus that he travels to remote corners, pockets stuffed with dollar bills, the Father Christmas of the assets community, bringing them relief after months without payment.
As for results: is it worth it? Who knows? Obviously these assets are the source of the rumours which plague the embassy circuit. There’s going to be an uprising in Lubumbashi tomorrow; so and so is going to be arrested and there’ll be huge demonstrations near the airport; the army haven’t been paid in the Eastern provinces for three months and they are going to mutiny, etc etc. About one in three of these rumours turns out to be true, but true or false the spy community can feel good because they’ve protected their nationals from danger. As an added bonus, the information can be fed to the political guys who like to know more who want to know more about the huge number of factions within the army: who is leading them, what they are doing and what they plan to do. And, the Ambassador needs to get inside information about what political parties are doing.
Not all spies are the gentlemanly military attachés. You meet some really rough ones, who usually present themselves as being in the security business, or having a completely unbelievable role in the embassy such as the legal advisor to the military court, while hardly being able to put together a sentence. These are the thugs of the spy world, who will not hesitate to put people out of their misery when circumstances require it. “No, nothing frightens me. This country is just like the rest – make sure they know who’s boss and you’ll be all right . . .” One can’t help wondering whether Simon Mann used to say things like that before trying to topple the government of Equatorial Guinea.
I was fascinated to meet someone from what was clearly a similar background and who now runs a business in Kinshasa. He said he quickly learned that attack is the only form of defence that works here. He gets frequent visitors who claim to be collectors of this or that tax, or to have found fault with his labour practices for which he will be fined.
His technique is simple. He has documentary proof of having paid all his taxes so is confident that no one can get him on that. He pretends to speak no French, but politely, but very firmly and without ceremony shows them the door. They never come back. In a recent case where the Minister of Labour instructed him to reinstate an employee he wrote a letter to the Minister stating that he had invested x amount, and employed y many people and he had no intention of being told what to do by a Minister who had no financial stake in the business. It worked.
Of course, you need to be pretty sure that you’re right before using those tactics, but how? Of course, you too have spies, a network within the government who can tell you what’s going on, who is powerful, who is not, and so on. And, gathering information that you can use against them if they get nasty. So business spies here are not about industrial secrets, but protecting your position.
It suddenly dawned on me: the DRC has its own war. On the one side, the “West” trying to make a success of a business; on the other the “East” trying to maximise its income from bribes and taxation. Yes, it is war, a cold one maybe, but war nonetheless.
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