Denis Sassou Nguesso & the 1989 UTA airliner bombing

In fact, President Denis Sassou Nguesso had never had plans to leave power and even in 1992, he conceded defeat to Pascal Lissouba simply because, he was under pressure from late President Francois Mitterrand,  following  his alleged complicity  with Muammar Gaddafi in the bombing of French UTA airliner over the  Tenere desert in Niger in 1989. I was told by a person in Brazzaville whom I promised never to release his identity. The same source also told me that, in the Libya versus Chad war over the control of the northern Chadian territory of band Aouzou, Denis Sassou Nguesso was on the side of Libya. He went on: “since Colonel Gaddafi was a friend to Colonel Denis Sassou Nguesso, Libya’s leader, decided to send Libyan bomb experts to Brazzaville to plant a bomb in a UTA flight that was to fly to Paris via Ndjamena, the capital of Chad. And in Ndjamena, President Hissene Habre had to board that plane because, he was going to Paris, France”. My informant went on: “The Libyan plan was that, the plane will take off and explode out of Chadian territory, killing in the process the Chadian leader who was viscerally opposed to Libyan expansionism and who had inflicted heavy defeats on Libyan forces with the aid of French legionnaires”. 

He went on: “In Brazzaville, Denis Sassou Nguesso did inform three Congolese of the Libyan plan: Senator Oba Apounou, General Norbert Dabira and Auxence Ickonga, who was the third African director of Air Afrique”. He continued: “the mutual Gaddafi –Sassou Nguesso secret plan to kill Hissene Habre failed because, late Auxence Ickonga, who was a friend to late President Mobutu, decided to inform the second. And Mobutu in turn informed his friend Hissene Habre, asking him not board the UTA flight from Brazzaville to Paris via Ndjamena".  

He concluded: "sadly On board that, same flight, several Congolese lost their lives amongst them, the daughter of trade-unionist, Bokamba Yagouma. It also explained the reason why, Bokamba had a vitriolic anti Denis Sassou Nguesso approach in the 90s.  When the French discovered the implication of Denis Sassou Nguesso, their protégé in the UTA crash, they decided not support Pascal Lissouba. It was Paris own way to punish their protégé”.  Another informant told me: “when Denis Sassou Nguesso discovered that, it was Auxence Ickonga, who leaked the secret to Mobutu, Auxence was allegedly poisoned by Congo’s president using a woman whose name can’t be mentioned here on”.  

Oba Apounou: Only Maurice Nguesso could do something good in the Nguesso Family

They are also the ones who think that, their father, Denis Sassou Nguesso was born to rule Congo everlastingly. This wing doesn’t like freedom of speech nor democracy. They were the ones who considered that, I had a mission to destroy their divine rule with my independent reporting and independent management of MNTV/MN Radio. They were also the ones who not only began attacking me and MNTV/MN Radio, but were bent at destroy the media group of their uncle (Maurice Nguesso). Their attacks was not only directed on MN Radio, they also attacked the print media that was publishing the newspaper called Le Fanion. That was suspended for a long while just to satisfy the whims and caprices of Ninelle Sassou Nguesso, who is the wife of the Lord Mayor of the Greater Brazzaville City Council. But where they used all weapons available in their distructive armory was on MN Television. It is true that, most of what Maurice Nguesso does as investments don’t seem to succeed simply because his ambition is simply to create or offer jobs to Congolese.  Maurice Nguesso is not interested in making money, but wants to help launder the dismal image of his younger brother.

And as already mentioned, on several occasions, most Congolese coming to work for Maurice Nguesso or in any of his companies think, that, they don’t need to invest much time to work. They (Congolese and some foreigners) are bent at taking away from Maurice Nguesso or any other Nguesso what they think is state money looted by the ruling family.  As far as most Congolese, who nevertheless adore Maurice Nguesso were concern and even within the ruling family, in particular amongst the Ninelle Sassou Nguesso wing of the ruling Nguesso family, they had all predicted that, MNCOM, in particular its Radio and Television station subsidiaries, were bound to follow the same trajectory of failure that most of Maurice Nguesso’s investments have taken before. This negative prediction was not only made by the children or ordinary members of the ruling family as abovementioned. Even the President of the Republic, who is the younger brother of Maurice Nguesso, wrote off the media ambition of his elder brother. No one believed MNCOM MEDIA GROUP will last long or make any meaningful impact within the media landscape of Brazzaville or the country.

I can still recall what Maria Maylin told me regarding, the President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s reaction, when she(Maria Maylin) told her that, I had decided to work with Maurice Nguesso who is the elder brother to the president. Marie Maylin told me that, the president of the Republic told her in French: “Elie SMITH est fini” or in English: it is all over professionally for Elie SMITH.  For as already mentioned, even President Denis Sassou Nguesso never believed that MNCOM will have any impact and since he had respect for me or so I thought, he never wanted me to come and destroy my career working for his older brother. Or it might have been the other way round, the president was perhaps afraid that, my decision to come and work in Congo would enable me to see the reality of his administration that outsiders seldom see. And sometime, in July 2011, when I came back to Brazzaville and along with Maurice Nguesso and the president of the Republic, we went to the Brazzaville cathedral to attend a special church service. It was a mass in remembrance of a certain Louemba, who was related to first lady: Antoinette Sassou Nguesso.

I don’t know or can’t recall with precision the kind of relationship that related Antoinette Sassou Nguesso with late Louembe, but I think he might be a brother or very close relative. After the service, the president Denis Sassou Nguesso called me in the presence of Maurice Nguesso, Jean Dominique Okemba, Antoinette Sassou Nguesso and his chief of protocol, Colonel Ibovi and he( Denis Sassou Nguesso) said: so you have decided to come and work for those things of Maurice?  His statement regarding his brother’s activities was disdainful, for he also believes that, almost all what his elder brother does, doesn’t work or he is being hoodwinked by those he hires to work for him.  What President Denis Sassou Nguesso did not know was that, if his brother was opening companies and offering employments to Congolese it was in a bid to launder his dismal image amongst the population.  And it also partly explains the reason why, Maurice Nguesso was not rigid in the way those companies were being managed. Maurice Nguesso was naturally not happy with what his junior brother said and I felt that, what the President had said   might be true.

But I was determine to show them all that, MNTV/Radio under my command won’t follow the same path of disorganization and lack of action plans or targeted objectives as  most of Maurice Nguesso’s companies may have taken. Hence I fought tooth and nail to gain autonomy for my entity (Television and Radio) and that desire for autonomy and the elevated degree of professionalism bore fruits. And those who were greatly surprised when they discovered that, MNTV /Radio were not a failure but a success, were first members of the ruling Nguesso family. They were followed by cadres of the Congolese Workers Party abbreviated in French as PCT. Oba Apounou told me that: For the first time, the Nguessos have created or done something in the county that most Congolese do like and admire . Oba Aponou is a member of the ruling party and former head of the ruling party in Brazzaville. He added: it was only Maurice Nguesso who could be capable of creating something that gives some credit to their family.