41
posted ago by killerspacerobot ago by killerspacerobot +41 / -0

My wife and I maintain a rental house in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. It is in the Ibex Hill district, which includes the U.S. Embassy. It is literally within walking distance of our house. Because we need to upgrade our domicile of operations, my wife investigated an offering of a house that happened to be adjacent to the Embassy property (a former lodging of Sam Nujoma, future president of Namibia, on the lam during revolutionary times). It was a fair-sized house, built to original colonial standards...being surplussed by USAID.

There were some interesting outbuildings, very sturdy. Upon entry, they were built stout as bank vaults, with "burglar bars" across the underside of the ceiling to prevent entry through the roof. It was empty, but from the impressions left in the dust, it was apparent that rifles and revolvers had been stored there, in quite large quantities. My wife asked about this and was told not to ask questions. In other similar outbuildings were shadow evidence of more weapons stores and even one filled with remaining crates of ammunition. While they were there, a truck came up to haul away the crates.

She was told that upon the termination of the USAID budget, all the USAID property was being remaindered. There was an additional small house on the property that my wife estimated could hold maybe up to 9 men. Question? Don't ask questions. Though a gate in a barrier wall against an adjacent property, they could see a group of 4x4 SUVs, also USAID materiel---to be given away for free. One of my wife's companions asked for one and his request was granted. Why not sell them? "We can't account for them," was the cryptic answer.

By this point, my wife had made herself persona non grata with the "sales agent" by the persistence of her questions. She asked the agent "Who owned the house?" and was told a name. Fortuitously, it happened to be a gentleman my wife new from her young years in her home district. She later called him up and discovered the connection to Nujoma. As my wife and I talked about this, the picture became very clear to me that all the humanitarian aid distributed by USAID (genuine enough, so far as it went) was a cover for an operation to fund, supply, recruit, and garrison revolutionary forces in the capital of an African nation. (Exclamation point!) Since it was never supposed to exist, they were liquidating it expediently without any paper trail of purchase. Notwithstanding its direct proximity to the Embassy, it is entirely conceivable that the State Department knew nothing of such USAID activities, since it operated independently. The casual corruption in Zambia encourages people to look the other way.

My wife has a nose for news.