Chris Gordon
De Beers is holding an internal inquiry following the shooting and robbery of the head of its Angola operations, Ken Kempson, near Lucapa in Lunda Norte. The attack left Kempson badly injured with five bullet wounds, and minus a reported $1,5-million (R7-million) in cash he was to deliver to the De Beers diamond-buying office in Lucapa.
It was not a random robbery. The attackers knew Kempson was carrying the money and laid an ambush for him, according to a source who arrived at the airport half an hour before he did.
The source saw three Angolans dressed as policemen waiting in the middle of the road beyond the army checkpoints – waiting for Kempson, he believes. It is now widely believed in Angolan diamond circles that the fact that Kempson was carrying cash was leaked from the De Beers Luanda office.
This is borne out by the way Kempson was targeted by the robbers, who attacked only the jeep he was travelling in. A second jeep escaped. According to Andy Lamont, of De Beers corporate communications in London, the director of De Beers Holdings, Angola did not normally act as a courier for the movement of cash.
Industry sources say the company preferred not to draw attention to itself by heavy security when it moved cash. Asked whether De Beers thought its security arrangements in Angola were good enough, Lamont said De Beers was as rigorous as possible under the circumstances, adding “but those circumstances have changed quite dramatically”.
The Lucapa region has a long reputation for being “bandit country”even though there is a major army base securing the town. Valuable diamonds come from Lucapa, and armed bands of illicit diggers have made the region unsafe.
Military action in May and June increased general security in the region. This was evidently not enough to protect Kempson, who has been in Angola for 10 years and knows the country well.
Visitors used to travel to the town in armed convoys. There are guards posted every five kilometres between Lucapa and the mining regions. SML, the mining company based there, earlier lost 21 men in in a rocket attack on the mine.
This attack raises more major questions for De Beers security in Angola. It is not the first time it has been robbed – a very large amount of cash was stolen last year from the buying office in Cafunfo in the Cuango Valley.
Lamont told the Mail & Guardian that De Beers will be reviewing its security procedures, but would not release the results of the inquiry. De Beers currently employs the British security company Defence Systems Limited, and has a Luanda-based head of security.
De Beers has closed all its upstation buying offices in Angola as a result of the attack on Kempson and will also decide on their fate during its inquiry.
Kempson is now out of hospital and recovering. The unanswered question is how the attackers knew he was carrying the cash. The answer to that question will reveal who really carried out the attack.