The announcement by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to send an African peace mission to Ukraine and Russia surprised many African diplomats, as preparations are being carried out by the Brazzaville Foundation, created and directed by the French Jean-Yves Olivier.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, May 16th by Cyril Ramaphosa. According to the South African president, Kyiv, and Moscow have agreed to host a delegation led by the heads of state of Zambia, Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville, Uganda, Egypt, and the ‘South Africa.
It is therefore in parallel with the usual diplomatic frameworks that this mission project was set up. With, at the heart of its presidential networks, the Brazzaville Foundation was created in 2015 and chaired by the Frenchman Jean-Yves Ollivier. The businessman made his fortune trading commodities around the world, particularly in Africa, where he has forged strong ties with decision-makers over the past four decades. From former Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny to President of Congo-Brazzaville Denis Sassou-Nguesso via Angolan José dos Santos, Jean-Yves Ollivier is a regular at presidential palaces. “I devoted myself to business and politics caught up with me”.
Close to President Jacques Chirac, Jean-Yves Olivier worked in the shadows in South Africa during apartheid and then with Nelson Mandela, in the DRC, the Comoros, and even Sudan. In 2020, he also organized a conference in Lomé on the fight against counterfeit medicines with seven heads of state from the continent. “We know today that trafficking corrupts from the base to the highest level of the state, that it also feeds terrorism,” he said at the end of the event.