Former Minister Maxime Ferrari comments on ‘Modern History of Seychelles’
Dear Editor,
Grateful if you would give me the opportunity to share my comments on the recently published political pamphlet by Shillington. I have just received a copy and I am appalled at the lack of historical objectivity in the book.
Hear are some of the many innacuracies I have noted. My comments are limited to the period that I know best, in which I was closely involved. I will not comment on various mistakes, wrong names etc in the first three chapters.
• On the childhood of Albert René (page 76) “ Shillington says that René came from a different background from Mancham and that he played as a boy with the children of the workers. In fact, we all did in those days and in that, René was no different.
He adds “René depended on scholarships and sponsorship for his education”. I say that René was the best dressed little boy attending St. Joseph’s Convent before attending the Marist Brothers Primary school. No scholarships were given for these institutions and his parents paid for it. My wife remembers him dressed cleanly and very well (better than other children) in those days. One must remember that his father, who was the manager of Farquhar Island, was well rewarded, even in those days, and could very well afford to send his children to paid secondary schools on Mahé.
• On page 102 there is a picture of an SPUP march described as a “long march for independence”. In order to attract people to join the march, it had been published and broadcast as a march for cheaper and better rice. Only on the day of the march did slogans demanding independence appear. On page 101 Shillington writes that the crowd (6000 he says) assembled at Anse aux Pins and marched towards the capital. “As the first marchers reached Gordon Square, others were still just leaving Anse aux Pins so that at one time they stretched in one continuous line from Anse aux Pins to Victoria.” Actually, 6000 people would only stretch for a km at most. He must have taken this statement from the mouth of a fanatic.
• On page 99, Shillington writes about leading members of the SPUP beginning to contemplate the eventual necessity for ‘an African solution’ - namely a coup d’état. That was in November 1971. I was not a member of the SPUP then. I joined the Party in January 1974. When I joined the Party there was no such talk about coup d’état. No one, not even Albert René, suggested that they were thinking about it. I don’t believe that anyone in the Party thought about such a possibility. I cannot, however, ascertain that Albert René was not thinking about it. The program of the SPUP then was clearly that of a political party organised to function in a democracy. At no time before independence did René suggest the possibility of a coup d’état. I was, however a little curious when René, at the second constitutional conference in January 1976, accepted certain not very democratic articles in the Constitution to go through. Passing thoughts came to my mind that he might be thinking himself as the President and preparing his own nest.
• The Church and politics. The statement about the ‘unofficial segregation of the seating in the churches’ is totally false. Although benches were rented, the worshipers were spread throughout the churches. The split in the Church in 1972 was mainly due to the interpretation of the decisions of the Vatican Council, the younger priests wanting to be more in solidarity with the poor, and for that they had the full support of Bishop Maradan, who had attended the Council and had been mightily impressed. Indeed the three mentioned priests wanted to live at Les Mamelles, but they never did. It is true that the Bishop resigned, but not prematurely as Shillington says. He was over 75 years old then and had previously twice given his resignation to the Pope who had asked him to stay on.
• Again on page 111, he states “René and the leadership of the SPUP wanted to establish a one-party socialist state”. That must have come from René’s mouth. Probably he wants to play down his action by saying that the leadership was involved. When the plan for the coup d’état was clear in René’s mind, he put three people in his confidence; First me, because he trusted me and I was his friend. He told me 3 months in advance that “something was going to happen in June”. He also put into his confidence Ogilvie Berlouis and James Michel. Ogilvie had been sent to train in Tanzania and he trusted Michel. I have no idea as to how much those two men knew. I suspect they were given details some time before. Certainly, those who participated actively in the coup d’état with the notable exception of James Pillay, were told at the last minute, the very same night. The statement on page 122 that René kept me ignorant of details is ridiculous. René stopped at my house at Val Riche, sat with me two nights before the coup and tested his radio transmitter talking to James Michel.
• Public debate on the Constitution - page 145. “There does not appear to be any evidence that these public debates were in any way deliberately ‘fixed’ by the government or the SPPF ...” Of course there is no evidence because all you can read (printed at the time) were the response of people who were strong SPPF supporters and were all for the ‘one-party state’. Radio Seychelles and the “Nation” were all biased and were hiding away the opinion of those who were not in favour. It was a big farce and at the time I was ashamed of what was happening. Further down Shillington writes: “any opposition to the one-party concept could have been portrayed as virtually treasonous”. He is right for once.
• Again on the next page he says: “the government did not feel there was any need to hold a referendum on the constitution” Not quite true : - Albert René did not feel there was a necessity; I did and told him so, but he refused and told me that the people had already decided in the debates. And so there was no referendum.
• Page 149. The French Navy Officers of the patrol boat Topaz were not asked to leave the country. They were aggressively arrested and made to stand bare-chested in the hot sun and then expelled from the country. Albert René at the time accused the French and for me, the “French” means the French government.
• Page 156. L’Union Chrétienne Seychelloise was not a local Catholic charity, but a Christian Ecumenical organization working for the social, spiritual, cultural and economic betterment of Seychelles. The organisation worked with the U.S. Catholic Relief Services that donated bulgar wheat, oil and milk.
• Page 189. What is said about Silhouette is not correct. As an island belonging to the Dauban familly and later to Temooljee, it had been run economically and was quite productive with a population of about 500 inhabitants. It became unproductive later under government management. The population declined then. The hotel was built later.
• Page 193. Talking about the failure of the 4 French-built pole-and-line fishing vessels, Shillington writes that it was an expensive fiasco. Indeed, but for the French; it did not cost Seychelles a penny. What happened next is not what he writes. The Seychelles never had to persuade the French to take back the vessels. The French themselves, recognizing the failure, decided to take back the vessels and then allowed themselves to be persuaded by the courageous manager of the Armement Coopérative Finistérien (ACF) to finance a trial by purse-seiners.
The two year trials were financed by the French and the ACF and did not cost any money to Seychelles. The Germans never financed any research in tuna fishing; they financed a welcomed research on the productive capacity of the demersal (artisanal) fishing on the continental shelf. The Spaniards did not finance any research at the time. The French were the only ones.
• The Seychelles Fishing authority (SFA). After I signed the fishing agreement with the EEC in January 1984, (not 1983 as stated by Shillington) the French brought in more purse seiners. At the same time, the Spaniards, with whom we had signed an agreement on 28 October 1983, that is 3 months earlier, brought in their vessels and real tuna fishing started.
The Germans were not at all involved and I wonder where Shillington gets this from. Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean long-line vessels had been fishing tuna in Seychelles waters for at least 20 years prior to these agreements. The SFA, with Maxime Fayon as its first Executive Chairman, was established in 1983. Shillington has got all his figures wrong. In writing this section on fishing development, no doubt that Shillington was brain-washed by the SPPF in such a way as not to mention my highly successful negotiations with the EEC and in doing so the whole section is distorted.
• My comments end there. I do not feel qualified to comment on the subsequent chapters which cover events after my resignation as Foreign Minister.
My considered opinion is that this book is full of errors and is the product of brainwashing by the SPPF. The author should be ashamed of himself and the children of Seychelles should never be subjected to such gross distortions of their country’s history.
Maxime Ferrari
Source: Regar 10-16-09