WHO MURDERED GERARD HOARAU?

Gérard Hoarau (7 December 1950 – 29 November 1985) was an exiled opposition leader from the Seychelles and was head of the Mouvement Pour La Resistance (MPR) that sought the peaceful overthrow of the France-Albert René regime which had come to power on 5 June 1977 in a bloody coup d'état. The opposition was based in London. He was assassinated on 29 November 1985 by an unidentified gunman, on the doorstep of his London home.

The British police have never solved his murder, but the France-Albert René government were highly implicated. As well as the hired hit-man, British police also believed that there was another individual—believed to be a Seychellois—who knew Hoarau and was able to identify him to the foreign assassin. Neither Hoarau’s assassin nor his accomplice has been caught. British police did arrest a number of individuals who confessed to working for an Irish private detective, Ian Withers, and were responsible for tapping Hoarau’s telephone line.

Mr. René admitted that Withers was employed by his government. James Mancham stated that "we know for a fact that the house of many exile groups were broken into and bugged by agents of the René government and now if they are prepared to pay agents to bug our houses so they should able to do a lot more". He went on to say that " he was very disturbed, once madness starts you don`t know where it stops". The murder was headline news in the UK and Mike Cobb, a senior Metropolitan police press officer at Scotland Yard stated "the fact that it was being dealt with by the anti-terrorist branch at Scotland Yard obviously suggests that there is some political background to the shooting".

Charles Meynell, editor of African Confidential, explained that " judging by recent history in the Seychelles where a lot of people have disappeared, I think it's highly likely that the René government is behind this. René has himself said that the leader of the opposition over here, Mr Hoarau was public enemy number one so I think it would be very hard to come to any other conclusion at this stage". He further indicated that "much more likely is a straight forward political assassination whereby somebody is given a large amount of money and told to get on with it".

Paul Chow, the Secretary General Of the Seychelles National Movement, boldly stated that "there is no doubt it is Mr René, the Marxist President of Seychelles. Only last month his party congress passed a resolution to the effect that he should take action against enemies of the revolution in Seychelles and abroad".

Grover Norquist, a powerful and very influential Republican lobbyist, was hired by communist France-Albert René to lobby before Congress. Asked how he could have a communist ruler who had been accused of human rights abuses as a client, Norquist stated that René was "a guy who preferred to not have elections for a number of years," and said of René’s human rights record, "there were one or two people who people were suspected done in."  It was also stated that whilst René denied involvement in the assassination, he admitted to bugging Hoarau’s telephone and to listening in on Hoarau’s last phone call.

British police had discovered that Hoarau’s telephone line was systematically bugged by these agents by placing a device in a junction box. The recordings were made from a safe house bought specially for that purpose from funds transferred from a secret account in Jersey.  During his last phone call Hoarau changed the time of a doctor’s appointment.  This information was necessary for the assassin to have in order to lay in wait for him on the fateful day.  British police later identified the murder weapon as a Sterling machine gun, the same type of gun used by the Seychelles police.

Hoarau was a very bright and highly educated young Seychellois with a degree in philosophy and theology from a prestigious Italian university. Consequently, he was fluent in Latin and Italian, as well as in English and French.

After independence he worked as special assistant to President James Mancham at State House, as head of the nascent foreign ministry. He was also a great footballer and gained many caps for the Seychelles National Team.  Hoarau opposed the creation of the one-party state and the decision by Rene to close down all football clubs in Seychelles and plan the incarceration of all youngsters reaching the age of sixteen into political education camps for two years, which Rene called the National Youth Service (NYS).

Hoarau was targeted by the new regime. The targeting became more evident after the school children demonstration in October 1979 against the National Youth Service.

On 15 November 1979, Hoarau and 100 others were rounded up by the police and held incommunicado without charge or trial at the Union Vale Prison guarded by young Seychellois soldiers led by Tanzanian troops. When he was released nine months later, he was placed under house arrest until he was escorted by security police out of the country.

Hoarau then moved to South Africa and in 1982 the South African government cancelled his resident permit after an agreement by them and René on the release of South African mercenaries captured in Seychelles. One of René's conditions being that Hoarau would be expelled from South Africa.

Gérard Hoarau is buried in London, his body specially preserved in a zinc casket so one day it can be repatriated to his homeland; Seychelles.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_Hoarau

PARTI LEPEP SCAM

Hon Ferrari had just brought up the issue of the kiosks being built at ex-Flamboyant. Although no planning permission has officially been granted completion of the newly named Village de Flamboyant is almost complete; the soft opening was on the 10^th of August as reported by local newspapers. This is not the scam.

The scam is that the land belongs to Parti Lepep and the rent for the kiosks range from SCR3,500 to SCR10,000 depending on the size. That is the scam.

Here`s an excerpt from the article from Today newspaper on the 3^rd of August.

“The project manager overseeing the work being done is Darryl Lefournour. He explained to TODAY that their plan to develop the place is big. “These kiosks will be occupied by different small businesses. For instance, we will have a ‘Braid Bar’, a florist, places for food like chicken and chips and pizza. There will also be a place where fresh fruits and vegetables will be sold. A few kiosks will be selling clothes, shoes and bags, toys, potted plants, spare parts for motorcycles and scooters. In addition to that, a retail outlet for electronics will also be stationed here,” he revealed.

He said that they will be initiating a lot of activities to attract people in the area. “For instance, during the Creole Festival we have plans to turn this place into a Creole Village where we can have Creole activities throughout the festival. We will also be targeting other national events,” he said. Mr. Lefournour added, “other than that, throughout the year there are different days which are celebrated across the country (example Women’s Day, Children’s Day, HIV/AIDS Day, Environment Day, etc.) and we are planning to bring these in as well. Another project ongoing in the same area is the renovation of the ground floor of the Ex-Flamboyant Discotheque. This space, Mr. Lefournour said, will be an event hall which members of the public can rent for different functions.”

JOHAN LOZE DISLODGES HOMELESS COUPLE

Mr Patrick and his wife returned to Seychelles after having lived overseas for many years. They bought a parcel of land at Le Niole and started a small tourism self-catering business of only two rooms. A parcel of land adjacent to their own belongs to government; on it is a dilapidated, uninhabited house. Two years ago, Mr Patrick requested to government that the plot be leased to him for extending his business. Government agreed but not before going through traumas as Patrick’s family were not very fond of the political party in power. However, after Patrick’s wife served as witness in the famous ‘however’ case challenging the election results, government revoked its intention to lease the land in question to Mr Patrick. Patrick’s wife was certainly not a witness of the government in power. When the revocation letter was received by the family, the motivation was abundantly clear; political victimisation.

As the uninhabited house posed a health risk to the adjacent tourism establishment because of rodents and vermin, Mr Patrick found it necessary to maintain a minimal level of cleanliness on the adjacent property; work which he had to do on his own. However, the old house attracted drug users and other part time squatters; it had been overgrown. Because of the declining security situation in the country, the family was forever concerned about the security of their guests and with the death of Mr Simon Esparon, Mr Patrick became more worried.

Coincidentally the family came across another couple who had been seeking decent short term accommodation. Mr Patrick found an opportunity to attend to the security problem by having someone live in the abandoned house. With a lot of verve and determination, the area was cleaned and made habitable. Before the cleaning started, Mr Patrick sought an appointment to meet with the Principal Secretary for Habitat to seek his permission in allowing the house to be temporarily occupied for the reasons stated but he was not successful. Determined, he informed the secretary to the PS that he was going to State House which he did. He was about to meet Mrs Arnephie when his phone rang and he was informed he had been granted an audience with Mr Denis Barbe, the PS Habitat.

He informed PS Habitat of the situation and gave his commitment that the couple would leave when government needed to make use of the land. The couple had brought into the house few furniture by the time Johan Loze showed up and informed everyone who wanted to hear that the house had been allocated to him and squatters had no rights in Seychelles. Mr Loze was adamant that the house was his and he had the right to evict the squatters.

Johan"Zimo" Loze

The house was subsequently barricaded and nailed shut to ensure that no one could enter; the couple could therefore not take out their furniture.

Interestingly, they received a letter from the planning authority threatening action for unauthorized renovation works.

After negotiations were undertaken, PMC officers supervised the removal of furniture from the house which was barricaded shut again.

It is such a tragedy that a ministry which is responsible for ensuring that every Seychellois has a roof over their heads should be involved in a useless eviction exercise. Furthermore; who is Johan Loze and what role does he play in all of that?? The incident highlights that Parti Lepep is more vicious than ever; their networks are still very active. Parti Lepep diehards will find President Danny Faure’s theme for 2018 of respect, compassion and love very hard to digest.

Source: Seychelles Weekly