Investigations have revealed how President Hakainde Hichilema was forced to agree to set up the controversial AFRICOM office in Lusaka by the Brenthurst Foundation.
Highly placed diplomatic sources have revealed that President Hichilema had to agree to the AFRICOM proposal after persuasion from the Brenthurst Foundation.
The two-day meeting dubbed African Security Dialogue was attended by US Embassy Defence Attaché Tom Stibral and discussed ways to improve security and stability across Africa.
Others who attended the meeting were Ivor Ichikowitz, a well known arms dealer and head of the Paramount Group with strong links to African Presidents such as Ali Bongo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Brenthurst Foundation is based in Johannesburg, South Africa and was established in 2005 by the Oppenheimers, the wealth South African family with strong links to Anglo American Corporation.
The Oppenheimers through Brenthurst Fiundation has been financing the operations of the UPND since its formation in 1998 by late Anderson Mazoka, a former Anglo American senior Executive.
In late March, President Hichilema attended a secret meeting organized by the Brenthurst Foundation at Lower Zambezi Lodge at which it was agreed that the AFRICOM Cooperation desk be set up in Lusaka.
The high level meeting was not publicized and President Hichilema’s Media Team did not disclose the whereabouts of the Head of State March 27th and March 29th 2022, the period that the meeting took place.
The meeting agreed that Zambia should host AFRICOM and act as a strategic hub for US military operation in the region.
At the meeting, President Hichilema was only accompanied by his Senior Private Secretary Bradford Machila and State House intern Chipo Mwanawasa and addressed the gathering on the importance of investing in security.
Other key Zambian officials who attended the meeting were Chief of Intelligence Felix Nyambe, Zambia Army Chief of Staff Major General Geoffrey Zyeele and Zambia Army Director of Training Brigadier General Jethrow Chipili.
The meeting was convened by Brenthurst Foundation CEO Greg Mills and facilitated by Almquist Knopf who served as Director of the Africa Centre for Strategic Studiies, an academic institution with the US Department of Defence.
Ms. Knopf was until late last year heading the Department which was established by the US Congress for the study of security issues relating to Africa.
Dr Mills is Presidential Adviser to Rwanda President Paul Kagame who visited Zambia a few days before the secret security meeting.
Other key person who attended the meeting was Prof. Serge Tshibangu, a special envoy of President of the DRC Felix Tshisekedi.
Prof Tshibangu first met President Hichilema on August 23rd 2021 at Community House, a day before his inauguration and delivered a special message for President Hichilema.
Last week, President Tshisekedi was in Zambia for a two day special visit and signed a raft of agreements with Zambia including one of defence and security operation and the Zambia – DRC Cooperation Agreement on the Establishment of the Value Chain in the Electric Battery and Clean Energy.
Zambia and the DRC have the world’s mineral reserves for Cobalt, a key ingredient in the production of batteries for electric vehicles.
The meeting was hosted by Tristan Pascal, the new CEO for First Quantum Minerals, the owners of Lower Zambezi Lodge and a friend of Brenthurst Foundation with business interests in the DRC.
Others who attended the meeting were Retired General Vusi Masando from South Africa, Lieutenant General Jonah Mwandi from the Kenya Defence Force and John Githongo, a former anti corruption advocate from Kenya who now works with the Brenthurst Foundation.
It’s now coming to light that we have a puppet President who’s also a liar and a ruthless dictator. He’ll have difficulties to handover power when we show him the way back to Bweengwa in 2026. Now we know why an official visit by a Head of State was hosted in Livingstone instead of Lusaka
This obsession of always trying to paint the US as the enemy is old.
Its just common sense that you want to have the best possible relations with the most powerful nation on the planet.
Of course they have their own geopolitical interests at heart. But we can use these kinds of deals to also push our own interests.
Japan, South Korea and several other Asian countries host US bases. They seem to be doing pretty ok.
But here, we want to hold on to old fashioned propaganda of “imperialists”! In the mean time we are busy surviving on US aid, we are busy trying to get scholarships provided by the US to send our kids to study in the US. To me it just seems to show a lack of serious thought on these issues. We just churn out outdated ideas that have no basis in reality.
This obsession of always trying to paint the US as the enemy is old.
Its just common sense that you want to have the best possible relations with the most powerful nation on the planet.
Of course they have their own geopolitical interests at heart. But we can use these kinds of deals to also push our own interests.
Japan, South Korea and several other Asian countries host US bases. They seem to be doing pretty ok.
But here, we want to hold on to old fashioned propaganda of “imperialists”! In the mean time we are busy surviving on US aid, we are busy trying to get scholarships provided by the US to send our kids to study in the US. To me it just seems to show a lack of serious thought on these issues. We just churn out outdated ideas that have no basis in reality.
How do you think Hakainde won the election? All forces were behind him…creating dispondence among the this population.
A non-state actor without control over any air space, without any customs and immigration control managed to import military hardware, recruit fighters and open training camps and managed to almost overrun the Mozambican military backed by SADC with its defence and security committee chaired by Edgar Lungu at the time. The old liberation wars hv been fought already and are now in the past. What are the new security threats in Africa? Answer that question truthfully.
Nice one. A secret meeting with pictures and all. The US is so careless with this Africom secrecy. Prof Tshibangu also met HH in future on 23rd August 2022
Livingstone has an international airport. Why should every meeting take place in Lusaka? HH is head of state in every part of Zambia. He can receive other heads of state in any part of this country. U’re up against enlightened minds and not taxi drivers, street vendors and bus station call boys.
Investigations ? by who and when ??
DISGRUNTLED PROPAGANDA FOR SURE
It’s Emmanuel Mwamba behind all this.
Watching from the distance
If Paul kagame is aware of this meeting then it’s ok. Are these people assassins? The answer is we don’t know yet. Is it for the good of this nation? We don’t know yet. Bane you are welcome. We need economical development. Empty tins, make to much noise
ANOTHER BVLSH!T IN THE MAKING…….
WHY WOULD A NORMAL PERSON BELIEVE THIS ARTICLE ???
JUST THE FIRST STATEMENT TELLS IT ALL ” Investigations have revealed how President Hakainde Hichilema was forced to agree to set up the controversial AFRICOM office in Lusaka by the Brenthurst Foundation.”
INVESTIGATION BY WHO?
KIYLL THAT NONSENCE.
LT propaganda why are you not going to indicate the author of this rubbish article? Who told you that meetings involving the head of state must always happen from Lusaka?
Praise singers will defend their small god demagogue crooked corrupt President HH with their own lives…disgusting to say the least….
Some of us already knew this and when I told you about it, as usual the ugly mother fakaz who aupport upnd got angry and called me names.
Remember that someone was funding all those elections losses of upnd. Now is time for hh to pay them back. If there is one thing that hh is good at is giving away this country to whlte people for nothing. Remember privatisation? Next is gay rights. Why you think many gay celebrities in zambia are now free to come out in public. Alot of nasty gay rituals took place as community house.
Washington(CNN)-“The harsh tone of Foote’s remarks was unusual for a public statement coming from a US diplomat. Foote further blasted Zambian government officials for “stealing millions of dollars in public funds,” which the Zambian government has denied.
“The current government of Zambia wants foreign diplomats to be compliant, with open pocketbooks and closed mouths,” Foote wrote, noting that the US provides “$500 million in annual American, debt-free support to the Zambian people.”
The presence of these people always attract the wrath of fundamentalists. Just look at Kenya. You can argue all day but the truth is you can not not take away the reaction of these fundamentalists.
Freemasonry always put their organization first! If you some president will put the interest of the nation first… forgot
Freema.sonry always put their organization first! If you some president will put the interest of the nation first… forgot
The UPND Supporters are the most disciplined of all parties as they do always stand up and condemn the government for anything that is wrong, there is a track record of that on LT. Unlike PF supporters, if anything they disappear and will not comment and if for some reason they did comment, then its about defending the “undefendable” or ushering insults.
With regards to fundamentalists, I guess it’s a valid point worth debate. However, I believe Kenya is NOT a good example comparable to Zambia, as fundamentalism already existed in Kenya before USA entered that country. Do we have pockets of fundamentalists in Zambia that we should consider in this debate? There was similar office in Botswana for years, are there any fundamentalists as a result of that?
What is the advantage in being in the election technological age?
What a load of rubbish………….
Even the mame of the author is not shown………..
Total garbage………………
The USA , one of the most technological advanced country , one of theist richest countries on earth…………..
Does not need no foundation or pressure group to establish relations or offices for its military in any country…………….
Childish crap of a write up…………
Why would the USA need some silly imaginary group to influence or pressure any country , when………….
They can , and do that through IMF and aid money as inducements ……..???
Childish silly writing story………..
Because Western governments don’t want a trail leading up to them in initiating such callous stuff. They use pressure groups or agents whom you wont easily associate with Washington or London. They cant use IMF because some of the members of IMF like Russia and China are enemies of the West
There is a lot of truth in this article. We know this. Everyone knows someone in Zambia. And it’s very easy to get the information you want, even at the core of the government. We have a lot of people in key national security positions who have no iota of experience or profound training. These include those from previous regimes and new people brought in by UPND. They were given jobs because they are supposed to be trusted individuals. Unfortunately, just trust is not enough in the 21st Century. Morden National Intelligence Systems needs Technology Experts because 70% of it is fuelled or run by Technology & Predictive Analysis, which again is all Technology oriented. 30% of it, is run by Human Intelligence.
Blue Eyed Boy for the West
This is dire.
The secretive nature is a warning but not a surprise. They’ll let you find out when they want to.
With Americans so inept in their own context as well as in Europe, it ought to be concerning seeing them pop their heads up here and in Brazil. They veil it under the guise of “defence” and “peace”, as @Nemwine mentioned, but what are the conflicts and in whose name are they really being carried out? Who is gassing who here?
We all cried tears of joy and renewal but what we’re seeing is the rebirth of colonialism. Globalism. Made to look voluntary so as to portray a sense of benevolence and foresight – all the things we’d be been longing for in previous presidential ‘administrations’. The so-called resetting of world orders and historic allegiances in the wake of a…
If this is true, then HH is increasingly proving to be a willing western puppet wanna be, who should be voted out come 2026. A few days ago, his administration was categorically denying that anything to do with Africom operations were about to be set up in Zambia. Zambia is not currently facing any serious security threats, at least not that we know of. Rather it’s a pretext for some secretive agenda… most likely to do with the West’s interest in the mineral resources in Zambia, the DRC and the region in general. This is very disappointing. If you think that the primary reason for the West’s interest in Africa is to protect, then you must be very naive. THEY ALWAYS LOOK OUT FOR THEIR OWN INTERESTS, NOT AFRICA”S; constantly looking for puppets to use so they can have access to…
Their goal is to keep Africa perpetually dependent and poor, and thus easy to exploit. They’ve been obstructing Africa’s progress and development since the 1960s, eliminating good leaders such as Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara, replacing them with puppets. Their modus operandi has not changed. HH knows this to be sure. But he has chosen to betray the people’s trust, by endangering Zambia’s sovereignty, if this article is true. What a shame.
Nicking government money counts as part of patriotism in the PF. That’s why those who looted the treasury are being presented as more patriotic than HH who’s fighting it. At 4 above, I hv raised questions about how a non-state actor was able to almost outwit what we’re told are defence and security experts backed by friendly states. The lesson is that they’re concentrating on yesterday’s threats. They don’t know that misrule is also a national security threat.
17… GENERAL KANENE……..
I am UPND and a cardholder from its start. I don’t agree with you that UPND has disciplined supporters. We have some UPND Supporters who are
narcists & sick haters and will bend the truth at every level just to win the debate. The truth of the matter is that UPND is making too many mistakes and HH knows this very well. I have flown to Zambia 7 times since 11 August 2021. I have spoken to people on the top level and the cadres in
the streets. The fact is there are a lot of frustrations inside UPND. I also agree with the comments above from the INDEPENDENT OBSERVER.
The USA would simply restrict their aid, other weatern countries aid , make IMF and World Bank loans and bail outs impossible if you don’t play ball with them………..
They don’t need no silly imaginary sounding group or individual to do their pressuring or persuading …………
These type of stories are meant for the conspiracy theory nutcases ………….
Who see a plot in every step taken or word spoken by the white man suffer mental slavery ……….
#21 INDEPENDENT OBSERVER
The Zambian intelligence community is virtually none existent………..there only in name.
Dyfunct by years of being used as a political tool to fix opponents………..
China and other western countries have better intelligence on Zambian than the Zambian intelligence……….
Look at the lies the previous GRZ was fed and believed………, GBM training UPND milita, bwengwa kidnapping by UPND commandos , HH burying weapons in SP , UPND sourcing $1.6 million to buy weapons………
Stories even children would find hard to belive……that is the Zambian intelligence for you. They are story tellers.
Someone will end up in the cells for writing or distributing this article. This is very sensitive material. You are basically saying that the president has something to hide by not publicising this meeting like ‘all’ other meetings. However, whoever wrote this article is a son/daughter of Zambia. People should know what is happening in their country. USA will never help a country for nothing. It has always been a give and take situation. USA is basically countering Chinese influence in sub-saharan Africa and will do anything to make sure that they control the strategic mineral resources of this region.
This article to me is all propaganda. I personally have never heard of a state discussing their defense preparedness or intentions in public. America are funding our health sector on a large scale and no one is complaining, we acquired arms from China and I never heard anybody complaining, but now because it’s a UPND leader and state President talking to Americans, there’s mayhem and pens have been put to paper. HYPOCRISY at it’s finest level.
what’s this moderation after moderation on my contributions?
Trying to be intelligent but foolish discussing an issue of security cooperation with lots of thought on it all being a conspiracy ! Choice for ignorance is killing Zambia’s share in development advances! Love or hate the Americans if yo wish them to be at their worst they can still get any information that they want without courtesy of cooperating with whichever country! Some Zambians think they are smart!
This is treasonous. This story portrays our president as being toothless. He can’t say no to Western influences. The State capture of Zambia is done and dusted.
“…Hichilema was forced to agree to set up the controversial AFRICOM office in Lusaka by the Brenthurst Foundation.”
Are we ever gonna make Zambia great again? What Keith Mlevu warned us about in his song Ubuntungwa has happened.
Bu the way, what happened to thte story of freemason? and The Mines being sold by HH? And also the Abduction of the Hatembos by HH? Where are all those facts? and why isnt the man arrested – Is this just among the stories on top i just mentioned? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha! PF cadres are real die hard when it comes to propaganda mwe.
THERE IS NOTHING SECRET ABOUT THIS. THIS IS THE SAME THING LATE SATA BY APPEARING ON ZNBC AND LISTING DOWN ALL THE BUSINESS THAT HH OWNED OR HAD INTEREST IN. WHERE DID IT TAKE HIM? NO WHERE! BUT IT WAS DONE WITH THE BELIEF THAT HH WOULD LOSE SOME CREDIBILITY IN THE YES OF CITIZENS. INSTEAD ALMOST ALL OF US ADMIRED HIM THE MORE. THOSE MAKING SUCH REVELATIONS MUST BE CAREFUL WITH THEIR MOTIVES.
What a load of conspiracy drivel. Of course PFs Chinese paymasters froth at the mouth for any involvement of the US in Zambia. They have painstakingly bribed their way into the Zambia’s economy. HH is doing a great job ensuring neutrality by balancing out the Chinese hunger for power and resources that has prevailed the during the Lungu dark years. VIVA ZAMBIA and thank God for Hakainde Hichilema !
#20.1 Bambo
May 7, 2022 At 4:04 pm
“Because Western governments don’t want a trail leading up to them …..”
Western governments don’t hide who they are courting……….
They only use 3rd parties in fighting wars when they don’t want their soldier’s to die like black water in the middle east……..
To influence any goverments , they don’t need no silly group to gain favour………..they have the money……..
#15 Deja Vu
May 7, 2022 At 10:35 am
“The presence of these people always attract the wrath of fundamentalists. Just look at Kenya. You can argue all day but the truth is you can not not take away the reaction of these fundamentalists…”
Muslim fundamentalists don’t need no attracting……….look at Mozambique
Everywhere you find sizable muslims populations you find wars………….
The author has withheld their identity to escape the ban by the GRZ state security on propagating such stories.
However, if the story above is fraught with falsehood, it will soon be swallowed by facts and truth and die eventually.
Does anyone remember the story where Lungu was accused to conspire with rebels in Great Lakes region? The UPND was so eager
and mesmerised to freely talk about it then. Zambia’s security was jeopardised.
My point is stories come and go, but facts and truth live forever.
I’m wondering what this article is all about, it talks about a secret meeting , we the readers want to know why it’s being called a secret meeting not the composition of who attended. I may not be a upnd supporter but this article lacks direct content to satisfy the reader.
Why would someone be proud of receiving aid? And for how long,,,? It’s better to die of hunger as a free man than to live in luxury as a slave.
@Spaka do you know what the Brenthurst Foundation does. The sponsorship of political economic ideology with a view of Western dominance is central to their mission. It may look silly to your lazy and tired mind but go research it. The Foundation played a big role in bringing HH to power.