The Ambassador Page #6

---

There are two French planes.

One in the morning and one at night -

- who fly over

the Central African territory.

French observational

military aircraft.

We've asked for the reports for

three years, but we've never got them.

- Where do they fly to?

- They fly over the territory.

They fly over and take pictures.

They pass with heat

and movement detectors.

They know who are traveling,

but never tell us.

The column that attacked Birao

had 27 vehicles that departed -

- from the interior of Sudan 400 km

away. Three days before the attack.

The French were well aware of it,

but they told us nothing.

The stone in the shoe.

- Hello. How are you?

- How are you?

- M. Gilbert, is he an officer?

- Yes. They all are.

Then we came to the haunted,

blood-soiled diamond fields -

- of the Central African Republic.

Besides the local rebels, the area is

plagued with highway robbers -

- and marauding bands

of killers from the outside.

Therefore, visiting the mines

of my business partner had to be -

- a very quick in and out.

- How long do we have?

- An hour and ten minutes.

- Where's the other guy?

- He's coming.

Let's go.

- What's that?

- The mine.

- There it is. Look.

- Amazing.

There are the diamonds.

I have my teams.

What is the biggest diamond

they've found here?

Like that. It's the site that produces

the biggest diamonds in the CAR.

The biggest diamonds

come out of here.

- I love you... the mine.

- It's beautiful.

Here, in these pits, children and

adults employed by M. Gilbert -

- work from dusk to dawn

with hands and shovels -

- under the scrutiny of local

soldiers who might as well be rebels.

- We have to keep track of the time.

- We must be at the plane in 35 mins.

- Let's go greet them.

- Sure.

At the top of the hierarchy are the

Muslim immigrant diamond dealers -

- who work in tandem with

mine owners such as M. Gilbert.

- Gilbert, please?

- Yes, finished.

- How long is the ride to the plane?

- Five or six... maybe ten.

On our way out, minutes before

takeoff, a strange situation erupted.

A young woman who M. Gilbert told

us was his wife was brought out -

- of the headquarters of the

Muslim diamond dealers.

- Don 't force her...

- Nobody's forcing her.

- Leave her alone.

- Open the door!

Open the door!

How can you say we are forcing her?

You want me to leave?

She wants me to go.

Don't do anything shameful

in front of these white men.

- Okay?

- A big diamond.

Beautiful.

- The plane.

- Yes!

He says

that without this girl -

- the business cannot

come up very well.

So this is the girl,

"the wife of chance".

So he's taken this girl to gain an

advantage in the diamond business?

To get more diamonds.

If there's a problem with the girl,

nothing can go very well.

Myself before, when I saw the girl,

I thought it was one of the daughters -

- but she is his wife.

But the Muslims, they are like that.

You see, he's Muslim.

- Gilbert is Muslim?

- Yes.

I didn't know.

- So, can we make matches now?

- We can do it.

- Yes, we can do it.

- Yes, we can.

Why do we use paraffin wax?

Because once we glow this -

- you need the stick to glow further.

So it acts as a fuel for the stick.

You can see the paraffin.

And you glow. See? It's coming down.

All along I knew perfectly well -

- that this match factory

never would come into existence.

Thus I was giving these people

a false sense of hope.

But diplomats do this every day

on a much larger scale -

- all over Africa.

It's part of the game.

90% of the matches sold here

come from Cameroon.

- 90% sold here come from Cameroon.

- Le Boxeur?

The owner of

this manufacturing company is -

- a Lebanese with

a French diplomatic passport.

He also works secretly

for the former French company SITA.

Will he harass me

if I attempt to set up a factory here?

It depends on his resolve.

That depends on

how much you want this.

So this is the envelope of happiness?

Maybe you should have it -

- because

diplomats don't handle money.

That's the most important rule I was

told. Diplomats never handle money.

- Because then I will get dirty.

- Yes, dirty. You are right.

The man I was on my way to meet,

son of the president -

- Jean-Francis Bozize,

is the minister of defense.

Not long ago the leader

of the rebels, Charles Massi -

- was captured

by the Central African army -

- and reputedly brought to a secret

prison in the jungle outside Bangui.

Here, it is claimed,

he was tortured to death.

An accusation which

Jean-Francis Bozize denies as a lie.

But people who are in the know

tell another story.

Charles Massi was a minister of state.

He took advantage of this position -

- to divert state funds to buy weapons

and start a rebellion.

To try to carry out a state coup

aided by France.

- He was asking for it.

- If he disappears, he disappears.

We're not going to cry over him.

- "Bonjour, Excellence?"

- Yes. "Bonjour, Son Excellence."

- "Bonjour, Son Excellence."

- That's right.

I've come to Africa, because Europe

has become old and tired.

His smile, among other things,

tells me that he's someone -

- who moves forward.

A pioneer.

I think the most important thing

to remember about the CAR is -

- that it's a young virgin country

where there's lots of business to do.

You have seen with your eyes

what's going on in the country -

- and how things are going smoothly

in the country.

Soon I'm going back to Liberia to get

my diplomatic accreditation papers.

Hopefully I'll also bring some official

greeting to the government here -

- on behalf of Liberia.

It will be an opening

of a new vision of the future.

- Thank you for coming.

- Thank you.

As I became more visible

on the radar of President Bozize -

- my concern about not having

my paperwork in order increased -

- by the hour.

I was afraid nobody in Liberia

knew about my presence in Bangui.

How fast would I have

my appointment?

- He assumes within a week.

- Within a week.

But nothing happened, and more

phone calls with Tijssen followed.

- Where are you now? In Frankfurt?

- Yes.

- Where are you?

- In Switzerland. I can't talk now.

I take your call,

because you called me several times.

Who said President Johnson have

approved me as the consul?

That came through

the office of Sherman.

- I'm in a pretty desperate situation.

- I take this very seriously.

So do I, Willem.

I've also been awake all night.

I really need closure

on a deal with Liberia.

Let's be serious businessmen

and make this work.

I've sent you and Sherman a picture

of me and Francis Bozize -

- just so Sherman knows

I'm working on a top level now.

Mads, I'm committed to this.

I respect you so much.

As long as my diplomatic

position wasn't in order -

- it would be difficult for me

to transport the diamonds -

- I was working so hard

to get my hands on.

The Cortzen Group will pay

M. Gilbert 10 million CFA francs.

And also there will be

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes