Sean Cleary

Sean Cleary is a former South African Military Intelligence Officer and subsequently diplomat who was non exceutive chairman of Erinys International until 2003. Cleary worked as a political advisor to Jonas Savimbi, the leader of the UNITA rebels during the Angolan civil war. Cleary is the Managing Director of Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd, which specialises in strategic counsel to multinational corporations, risk management and investment analysis in sub-Saharan Africa. He is also Chairman of Transcontinental Consultancy (Pty) Ltd and a director of several other South African and Namibian companies. He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum, a Faculty Member of the WEF Annual Meeting, a Member of the World Economic Forum's Southern African Task Force and the Institute of Directors, and a Trustee of the South African Foundation for Conciliation and the Peace and Reconstruction Foundation. Mr. Cleary was a member of the Facilitating Committee and the Preparatory Committee of the National Peace Accord, and Chairman of the Working Group on the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Organizations. He served on several national Advisory Committees in Namibia between 1985 and 1989.

In 2009 Cleary attended a conference entitled Enriching the Middle East's Economic Future Confidence. He is also on the board of directors at the International Foundation for Electoral Systemsand is listed as a volunteer on the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow website. Cleary attended the 2009 Milken Institute Global Conference.

Jerry Funk gives the following impression of Cleary:

"Sean Cleary was a charming fellow, very bright and articulate. I enjoyed his sometimes off-the-wall company. He proudly showed me his detailed plan for Jonas' strategy to cry foul, and demand a new election. The spectacle of South Africa making pronouncements on the legalities of any election anywhere boggled my mind. I mentioned this concern to Sean, with no effect, obviously. But then, Sean, like many people associated with the security folks from South Africa, BOSS, often spent a lot of time off in lala land. Seans program clearly caught Savimbi's fancy, and set the stage for him to try to grab power, by military means...again. Ultimatley in early November, the Angolan government arrested Sean (apparently on charges on unfocused lunacy) and deported him

Operation Agree

According to Cleary's biography on the World Knowledge Forum, Cleary's role in South Africa was one in which "he initiated negotiations between SWAPO and other Namibian political parties, the release of Namibian political prisoners and the implementation of that territory's first Bill of Fundamental Rights". A different interpretation of Cleary's role in Namibia is put forward by a Guardian investigation into "Operation Agree".

Sean Cleary's company Strategy Network International is described by The Guardian as being a key part of "an extensive network of right-wing organizations linked to the South African government". According to their investigation the company was "set up in the 1980s by Sean Cleary, a former South African diplomat who once served in Washington. Cleary's group spearheaded the 1989 election campaign in Namibia for pro-South African politicians running against the Namibian independence movement, Swapo".

Subsequent investigations in South Africa have revealed that the anti-Swapo effort was the first part of "Operation Agree," a complex secret strategy by South African military intelligence designed to preserve South African economic dominance of the southern African region. Support for Unita in Angola's elections was the second phase of "Operation Agree," according to a former intelligence officer, Nico Basson, who gave extensive testimony during the investigation.

According to The Independent Strategy Network International was specifically created to lobby against economic sanctions and as propagandist for Unita, the Angolan opposition group, and for the so-called 'transitional government' of Namibia set up in defiance of UN resolution 435 on Namibian independence.

South African Propaganda in Namibia

In 1985 former PR Consulant to the Namibian administration Sir Trevor Lloyd-Hughes, accused the Strategy Network International of being controlled totally by Pretoria. Strategy Network International Ltd, was a new company lobbying for the Namibian regime and established by Steven Govier who was sacked by Trevor Lloyd Hughes earlier that year, and Patrick Wattson. Govier initially denied working for the South Africans insisting that he was employed by the Transitional Government of National Unity, the administration set up in Windhoek.

It later emerged that they were paid and instructed by a company called Transcontinental Consultancy and that its owner, Sean Cleary, had helped establish their office in London. Cleary was previously Director-General of the Administrator-General's office in Windhoek and an important South African diplomat who was instrumental in setting up the transitional administration.

He resigned from the civil service in to start Transcontinental and was promptly awarded four million rand (pounds 1.5 million) to act as consultant to the transitional government. Questions were raised at the time about the way this contract was awarded without consultation or tender.

The Times goes on to add:

"The company also appears to be acting as a recruiting agency for the South-West African Defence Force, the Namibian contigent of the South African Army fighting Swapo guerrillas in the territory. Mr Daniel Hill, an unemployed Irish citizen from Cardiff, approached the group two weeks ago and asked to join the Namibian armed forces. He said yesterday that Mr Watson had told him he would arrange for a visa and find out whether he could join the Army"..

Savimbi Adviser

Cleary was evacuated from Angola to Pretoria in 1992 after UNITA were pushed back from the Angolan capital Luanda following their defeat in the 1992 election:

One of the roughly 300 evacuees who arrived here today, Sean Cleary, a South African businessman and former diplomat with close ties to UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi, said he believed that the guerrilla leader knows he cannot fight another civil war. "He knows there would be no support from the outside world, and he knows that after 31 years of nearly continuous fighting, the people of Angola are desperate for peace," said Cleary, who last spoke to Savimbi about 10 days ago.

South African Police Investigation

Rwanda

In 1996 the Independent reported that Cleary's firm was under investigation by the South African Police:

A separate investigation is also being conducted by the South African police and the National Intelligence Service into a senior South African National Defence Force general and an ex-special forces officer who are alleged to be providing training to rebel and dissident groups throughout central Africa, including the Zairean Tutsis. The company being investigated is called Omega Support Ltd and is run by Johan Smith, South Africa's former military attache in Angola.

Mr Smith also works for a company called Strategic Concepts which is also being investigated by the police. It is run by a former apartheid- era diplomat, Sean Cleary. As well as being an advisor to Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan rebel leader, Mr Cleary has also worked for the South African foreign affairs department and military intelligence.

Kabila

Although EO is no doubt the leading South African company, it is not the only one. One competitor is Omega Support Ltd., led by the ex-SA military attaché in Angola, Mr John Smith. According to The Guardian, Omega is closely tied to Strategic Concepts, created by the former Military Intelligence officer Mr Sean Cleary, a staunch supporter of Jonas Savimbi. South Africa's National Intelligence Service is convinced that Omega was involved in supplying and training Laurent Kabila's Banyamulenge fighters during their campaign against General Mobutu's army.

Erinys

Sean Cleary described his role with Erinys in an e-mail to David Isenberg:

He said “My involvement with Erinys was due to Erinys acquiring, through a pooling of interests, the risk assessment business of a small company in South Africa, Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd. I had started this company, which did socio-political research and analysis enabling companies investing in Africa better to understand the risks which they were assuming, at the end of 1985 and was by 2002, no longer directly involved with its day-to-day operations”. In 2002, the MD of Erinys International, a newly-formed company, Mr Jonathan Garratt, approached me with the proposal that Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd be incorporated into a potentially larger risk management advisory business”. “Mr Garratt proposed that he be the MD of the merged company. A former banker with extensive African risk pricing experience, Ms Lesley Plaistowe, was to be responsible for building the business risk practice and Mr Fraser Brown was to run the the physical risk advisory business. Mr Garratt was to build the political and environment divisions in addition to his overall management responsibility”.

“Mr Garratt and Mr Brown had extensive African experience in the Armor Group”. Cleary went on to say “I thus agreed to become non-executive Chairman of Erinys International Limited, the holding company created to allow for growth and expansion, and Erinys Africa (Pty) Ltd, which was to focus exclusively on African business”

Erinys Resignation

According to Jonathan Garratt the Managing Director of Erinys International , Sean Cleary resigned from the Erinys board in 2003. In a letter to journalist David Isenberg Garratt claimed that Cleary “resigned from the board and chairmanship in October 2003 (a matter of public record and reported in various media), on the grounds that the activities of the company had gone beyond his operational experience and that he could no longer be of assistance to its growth”. Sean Cleary also wrote to David Isenberg giving his reasons for resignation. He argued that he was “opposed to the deployment of PMCs (Private Military Contractors) in zones of combat”. He said “I resigned my non-Executive Chairmanship and withdrew from Erinys at the beginning of November 2003 once I understood that Erinys would be acting in Iraq in a role that might cross the line and take it into that grey zone of international law that you delineate – although as you correctly observe, they ‘do not engage in offensive operations”. It became clear in 2003, after Ms Plaistowe had resigned after disagreements with Mr Garratt, that the original vision of the integrated business was unlikely to be realised and that Mr Garratt was reconsidering his options. He approached Mr Alastair Morrison, the founder of Defence Systems Limited and a former Director of Armor Group, to discuss refocusing the business towards the 'downstream', where Mr Garratt and Mr Brown had more experience and a higher level of comfort. It was in this context that Mr Garratt tendered - I believe through an Iraqi JV, Erinys Iraq, in which Erinys International had a 30% shareholding - for the CPA contract in Iraq. After the tender was awarded to Erinys Iraq it was obvious that the focus of the business would change considerably. Once this was clear to me at the beginning of November 2003, I tendered my resignation as a Director and non-executive Chairman and disposed of my shares to Mr Morrison for the sum outstanding in my loan account. I have had no association with Erinys International or Erinys Africa since then”

Career History and Affiliations

Career

• 1967-1969 (South African Navy) Assistant to the Staff Officer (Intelligence) on the staff of Commander Maritime Defence
• 1970-1975 (South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Diplomat to Tehran
• 1976-1977 (South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Deputy Head of the Economic and Financial Relations Division
• 1977-1978 (South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Head of the Training Division
• 1978-1982 (South African Embassy) Political Counsellor and Head of the Political Division
• 1982-1983 (South African Embassy) Consul-General in the twelve Western States of the USA
• 1983-1985 Chief Director in Namibia.

Affiliations

• -1994Strategy Network International Company Number: 01927039 Status: Dissolved 13/07/1994
• UNITA
• -present Strategic Concepts
• Transcontinental Consultancy
• 2002-3 Erinys International
• 2002-3 Erinys South Africa
• World Economic Forum
• WEF Annual Meeting
• International Foundation for Electoral Systems
• Milken Institute
• LEAD International

Publications, Resources and Notes

Sean Cleary, PROFIT AND PLUNDER - THE PRIVATIZATION OF WAR AND SECURITY IN AFRICA, ANGOLA: A CASE STUDY OF PRIVATE MILITARY INVOLVEMENT. Sean Cleary, 'Angola – A case study of private military involvement'in Jakkie Cilliers, Christian Dietrich, eds. Angola's War Economy: The Role of Oil and Diamonds. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2000. X + 370 pp. $16.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-620-26645-1.