Chapter 42 Friendship with Africa

At the end of June, the NGO charitable organization jointly established by Seriosha and the American Farmers Union - Friendship Africa officially entered the operation stage. In order to prevent being discovered by the all-pervasive US regulators, Seryozha instructed Glencore, Mediterranean Trading Company to register hundreds of shell companies in Bermuda and Cayman Islands to provide assistance to this charity organization. And Yuri participated in it with great fanfare, donating to Friendly Africa in the name of casinos and hotels under his name. Because investing in charitable causes can avoid taxation, this sum alone left Serezha with a lot of money.

In the name of helping Africa from the famine, fraternity Africa has grandly purchased wheat and barley from the Department of Agriculture and the American Farmers Union at a lower price than the current market price. Then hire a fleet to transport to Italy for the next step of processing. The headquarters of Youai Africa is located in the United States, and its employees are all ordinary citizens with clean net worth recruited from the society, but this is not the case in Italy. Here are all Yakov's subordinates. In order to reduce unnecessary troubles, in addition to the normal work arrangements, the headquarters of Youai Africa and the Italian branch have minimized exchanges. The US headquarters only needs to raise funds and purchase food, while the food transshipment and actual business Arrangements are made in Italy.

In early July, the first cargo ship from Italy to Somalia finally set sail. Despite all kinds of dissatisfaction, Chebyshev set foot on the cargo ship. Most of the load on the ship is old grain eliminated from Italy. Even if the grain is transported back to the Soviet Union, it will be treated as feed. In addition, there are some corn and other food varieties that the Soviet people are not used to. Although there was a food shortage in the Soviet Union, the food shortage was not a famine, and the Soviets would not stuff everything into their mouths. And those hungry people in Africa are waiting for food to save their lives.

Chebyshev felt a little ironic. He obviously joined an underworld organization, but now he is working for a charity organization. There were a total of ten people who went to Mogadishu with Chebyshev, and there were only two members from the Soviet Union including him, and the other Soviet member came from Central Asia. The remaining members are mostly from Poland, Yugoslavia and Albania among Eastern European countries. Among these people Chebyshev was their little leader. The task everyone received was to distribute relief food in Mogadishu on behalf of Friendship Africa, and then took photos and sent them to the US headquarters.

After leaving Italy, the cargo ship headed east, passed through the famous Suez Canal, and crossed the Red Sea to Mogadishu. When Chebyshev stepped off the cargo ship, the endless slums in the capital of Somalia made Chebyshev feel a little sad. His first thought at that time was where to buy vodka in the future.

The pier side is actually controlled and occupied by United Nations forces. There are military vehicles with UN logos everywhere. Chebyshev is now the person in charge of the Friendship Africa NGO in Somalia, so it is natural that he will show his face in public. Officials from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations rushed over immediately after learning that an unknown charity had brought in a whole shipment of wheat. After communicating with an interpreter, Chebyshev finally figured out the purpose of the other party's visit. It turned out that the other party was asking him if he would hand over the ship of food to the United Nations for management. As for the reason, the United Nations officials also told Chebyshev that without the escort of armed forces, as long as the ship of food was transported out of the port, it would be snatched up by the troops controlled by the warlord. Chebyshev didn't want to cause trouble for himself, so he simply agreed to the other party's suggestion.

Since Friendship Africa does not have an office here, Chebyshev took a military vehicle of the UN troops, escorted the food away from the pier, and rushed to the UN material warehouse. There are garrisons and garrison living areas, and the convoy will pass through the urban area of ​​Mogadishu along the way. Chebyshev saw beggars chasing the convoy on the side of the road, disabled people with missing arms and legs, and almost all of them were carrying weapons. Some sweat dripped from Chebyshev's forehead unknowingly, and he felt that malicious eyes were staring at him,

And the eyes came from the onlookers on the side of the road.

Chebyshev's hunch was actually correct, as early as when they arrived at the port of Mogadishu. The news that someone had brought a shipment of food spread throughout the city of Mogadishu. When hundreds of thousands of people starve to death in a city every day, a shipment of food is worth less than a shipment of gold. The city is now controlled by hundreds of warlords, large and small, and everyone knows the importance of this batch of food. Food here is military pay, money, and weapons. On the black market you can exchange food for all kinds of things you need.

Chebyshev looked out of the country through the narrow car window, which could not be opened at all. The two air conditioners in the car are not very stuffy. The heat and fear drove Chebyshev a little crazy. He cursed the Gorky Brotherhood, Nikolai, Balanikov and other people and organizations that made him fall here over and over again in his heart. How much Chebyshev wanted to sit in an air-conditioned movie theater at this moment and have a glass of cool beer or kvass!

After Chebyshev returned to the station, he arranged visas and accommodation for his subordinates. A ship of grain and most of it is waiting to be unloaded at the port. After all, the food that came back with the car was a small amount. But there is no need for Chebyshev to worry about these, because he has entrusted the staff of the United Nations to handle the food. What Chebyshev has to do now is to wait until the relief food is distributed, take more photos and send them back to the headquarters of Friendly Africa to prove that he has indeed fulfilled his duties and obligations, and then contact the headquarters to ship the second batch of food.

After finishing the formalities with great difficulty, Chebyshev planned to take a rest and then go to the barracks to see if there was any suitable office space to rent. Chebyshev didn't go out until the sun was about to set. He brought a few of his men and hired trusted local security personnel introduced by the United Nations. Since this generation is close to the military camp, the security is very high, so many NGOs have rented offices here. Not far from the street of the office, you can see heavily armed UN soldiers, as well as some local hawkers who specialize in foreign business.

Just when Chebyshev was bored, the smell of wine entered his nose. He looked at the source of the smell, and he actually saw an open-air bar. Although there were only a few rotten tables and a few broken chairs, the business was exceptionally good, so Chebyshev waved to his subordinates, turned around and walked towards the bar.