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Mbeki has been seeking an audience with Prime
Minister Meles since then, arguing that the
ministers of transport and communications of the two
countries have taken measures based on “hearsay and
gossip.”
The two ministers - Junadin Sado of Ethiopia and
Ismael Ibrahim Houmed of Djibouti - say they have
“credible evidence” to demonstrate that the joint
venture company does not have cohesion nor has it
the means to raise the amount of equity estimated by
its own bid to be needed to run the operation.
Mbeki challenged this assertion as “baseless and
misleading.”
COMAZAR beat a rival bidder from India, RITES, by
offering to enhance the company’s capacity to
transport 1.5 million tonnes of cargo per year, and
by committing itself to begin running the railway as
soon as the concession took effect. RITES had
requested a five-year transition period.
COMAZAR, a South African registered company, formed
the consortium in February 2006, with another South
African registered firm, African Resources and
Logistics Corporation Ltd (ARELCO) and the Belgian-
registered VECTURIES, according to an agreement
signed in February 2006. Both COMAZAR and VECTURIES
are managed by Eric Peiffer, the lead negotiator
during the concession deal, while ARELCO, chaired by
Mbeki, controls 90pc of the consortium, the same
agreement discloses. Mr. Peiffer is also a signatory
on behalf of both companies, which equally split the
remaining 10pc of the consortium’s shares.
With or without the concession, the railway is
currently undergoing rehabilitation work that is
forecasted to take two years, financed by a 50
million dollar grant from the European Commission.
What to do with the company and its thousands of
employees is what led to the disagreement between
Mbeki’s joint venture and the transport authorities
from both countries, which share control of the
railway company. Authorities expected the joint
venture to take over responsibilities of the railway
company upon the signing of the concession
agreement, which they had expected would occur in
August 2007. Mbeki has a completely different
reading. He wanted a transitional phase lasting
approximately two years until the completion of the
rehabilitation work on 114Km of track, which began
in July 2007 by Italy’s CONSTA.
Although an agreement was reached between the
parties in March 2007 to develop a transitional plan
by COMAZAR and integrate it into the concession
document, transport ministers allege they received
no response from the consortium for three months,
prompting them to revoke the agreement. Mbeki denies
the assertion, claiming that he had tried every
possible way to reach to the authorities.
His meeting with Meles produced no significant
results, according to sources. The two reportedly
exchanged their viewpoints on the matter, but no
commitment was made by either side. Sources say
Mbeki’s only remaining recourse is to challenge the
impending deal with the Kuwaiti company. He will
need to seek a similar audience with Djibouti’s
President, Ismael Omar Guelleh, before doing that.
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