Predator. Wilbur Smith

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СКАЧАТЬ Africa isn’t poor. The great mass of Africans is still very poor. But Africa itself is very rich. Or, at least, it could be.’

      ‘You mean if corrupt leaders didn’t keep all their people’s wealth for themselves and siphon off most of the aid given to them by guilt-ridden suckers in the West?’ said Cross, who liked the way Bobbi Franklin thought almost as much as the way she looked.

      ‘Well, I’d put it a little more diplomatically, but, yes. Let me give you some examples to illustrate the point: stop me if I’m telling you things you already know. You’re going to be operating off the coast of Angola, so would you care to estimate how much oil those offshore fields produce, in total, per day?’

      ‘Hmm …’ Cross thought, his mind now fully focused on his job. ‘Our rig at Magna Grande will produce around eighty thousand barrels a day when it’s going flat out. There are lots of other rigs like it. So I guess the total would be, what, twenty times as much?

      ‘Not bad, Mr Cross, not bad at all. Angola produces one point eight million barrels of oil a day: so yes, just over twenty times your rig’s production. The nation’s oil exports are currently running at about seventy-two billion dollars a year. And there’s about three hundred billion cubic metres of natural gas down there too.’

      ‘That sounds like they have around a trillion dollars of reserves.’

      ‘And that’s why I say that Africa’s rich. Granted, Angola’s not as blessed with oil reserves as Nigeria, and it doesn’t have the incredible mineral wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But it’s got Africa’s first female billionaire, who just happens to be the President’s daughter. And I hope Bannock Oil gives you a decent expense account when you’re out there because a couple of years ago the Angolan capital, Luanda, was named the most expensive city on earth. A hamburger’ll cost you fifty bucks. Go to a beach club and order a bottle of champagne – that’ll be four hundred. If you decide you like it and want to rent a single-bedroom apartment, the best ones go for ten grand a month.’

      ‘And I thought London was expensive.’

      ‘Here’s the biggest sign that things have changed. Forty years ago, Angola was just declaring its independence from Portugal. Three years ago, the Portuguese Prime Minister paid a visit to Luanda. He wasn’t coming to give Angola aid. He couldn’t afford to. Portugal was bust. So the Prime Minister wanted aid from Angola.’

      Cross gave a low whistle. He’d always thought there was something condescending, even racist, about the western liberal assumption that black Africa was a helpless basket case of a continent, pathetically grateful for a few crumbs from the white man’s table. Now those tables had turned. But there was one vital element missing from Bobbi Franklin’s account.

      ‘Just out of curiosity, how rich is the average Angolan?’ Cross asked. ‘I’m assuming they don’t eat too many fifty-dollar hamburgers.’

      ‘You assume correctly. More than a third of Angola’s population, which is roughly twenty million people – no one knows the exact figure – live below the poverty line. Less than half of them have access to electricity. So even though they’re sitting on gigantic energy reserves most of them depend on a mix of wood, charcoal, crop residues and animal manure for their cooking fires. This is a classic case of a rich African country filled with dirt-poor African people.’

      Now they were getting to the heart of the discussion. ‘How angry are these people?’ Cross asked. ‘Are they ready to take violent action against the government or foreign businesses? They do in Nigeria, after all.’

      ‘Yes, they certainly do.’ Franklin nodded, and Cross was momentarily distracted by how sexy she looked pushing her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose. He tried to snap his mind back to what she was saying.

      ‘Nigerian oil production can drop by up to five million barrels a day because of terrorist and criminal activity. As I’m sure you know, there are regular attacks on the oil industry’s infrastructure. There’s also a major problem with “bunkering”. That’s the local name for cutting a pipe and stealing the oil it’s carrying, kind of like siphoning gas from a car, but on a much larger scale. Add to that the bitter religious conflict between the Muslim and Christian populations and the presence of powerful terrorist groups like Boko Haram and you can see that the danger of large-scale civil unrest in Nigeria is extremely high. It’s no wonder, really, that several of the major oil companies have either already pulled back from their Nigerian operations or are seriously considering doing so.’

      ‘So could the same happen in Angola?’

      ‘Not as easily, for a number of reasons,’ Bobbi Franklin said. ‘Angola was torn apart by war for more than forty years: first a struggle for independence against the Portuguese that ended with independence in 1975, and then a civil war that didn’t end until 2002, having killed about one and a half million Angolans. The ruling party, the MPLA, has been in power since independence and the President, José Eduardo dos Santos, has held office since 1979.’

      ‘Must be a popular guy,’ said Cross.

      Franklin picked up on his sarcasm and ran with it. ‘You know how it is: African leaders have a way of staying in office a lot longer than your average western leader. At the last elections, the MPLA won seventy-two per cent of the vote and one hundred and seventy-five of the two hundred and twenty seats in parliament. Folks in Angola just can’t get enough of ’em.’

      ‘That’s because the MPLA is doing such a terrific job of giving them money and food, and electrical power.’

      ‘Or it could be because the elections are a long way from fair and the government spends a higher proportion of its budget on defence than any other state in sub-Saharan Africa. And there’s not going to be a military coup, either, because President dos Santos is head of the armed forces. There’s no religious dimension to worry about because, bluntly, Islam is not an issue in Angola. Just over half the population is Christian, the rest follow traditional African religions.’

      ‘So Angola’s relatively peaceful?’

      ‘These days, sure, and the other advantage you have operating there is that your installations are way out to sea. A lot of the Nigerian ones are in the waters of the Niger Delta, much closer to the mainland, so they’re a helluva lot easier for the bad guys to attack.’

      Cross frowned. He’d been told to expect a warning, but all he was getting was good news. ‘So what’s the problem?’

      ‘I thought you’d never ask,’ said Franklin.

      You’re a cool operator, aren’t you? thought Cross, feeling increasingly annoyed with himself for not getting on a flight to DC and conducting the meeting in person. But now she was talking again. ‘You see, there’s one last hangover from the civil war: the province of Cabinda. It’s separated from the rest of Angola by the narrow strip of territory that links the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Atlantic Ocean. Cabinda still has a rebel movement that calls itself – wait for it – “The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda – Forças Armadas de Cabinda”, or FLEC-FAC for short.’

      ‘I’m tempted to put another vowel between the “F” and the “C” there.’

      Franklin laughed, a deliciously feminine giggle that delighted Cross. Gotcha! he thought triumphantly.

      The State Department analyst swiftly recovered her professional poise. ‘The rebels have offices in Paris and in Pointe-Noire, which is in the Republic of Congo—’

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