Africa: Festus Mogae - This Diamond Is Forever

Washington, DC — When Festus Mogae died in early May, the world lost a global statesman and I lost a beloved friend of more than 40 years.

The Oxford- trained economist was a dedicated democrat, committed feminist and visionary leader who successfully shepherded Botswana through the HI/AIDS crisis. But the magic of Festus was his integration of those talents and traits into a soft-spoken powerhouse who was instrumental in piloting a small, newly independent southern Africa country from dire poverty at its 1966 independence to prosperity as the strongest democracy and most resilient economy on the continent 60 years later.

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Integral to Festus's magic was his ability to forge strategic alliances and partnerships. From my perspective, Festus's lauded contributions in democracy-building, combatting HIV/AIDS and strengthening economic development were further advanced by a unique partnership between Festus and diamond merchant Maurice Tempelsman, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the American diamond company Lazare Kaplan International Inc (LKI), that spanned at least three decades and delivered tangible sustainable development to the people of Botswana.

I first met Festus in 1985 in Botswana when the National Democratic Institute was convening its "Democracies in Regions of Crisis" series. We delighted in celebrated Botswana's multi-party democracy, with its two robust parties and fierce electoral competition. Our friendship grew when, in 1989, Festus was appointed Minister of Finance and Development Planning and I became president of the then-African-American Institute (AAI), a leading policy and anti-apartheid non-profit known for its annual conferences which alternated between African capitals and New York. Maurice Tempelsman was chairman of AAI's board.

Over the next four decades, Festus and I strategized on issues from apartheid to corruption to HIV/AIDS to women's political participation to the importance of adding value to one of Botswana's main resources, its diamonds.

Botswana has the highest concentration of gem-quality diamonds in the world, a wealth early shared with Debeers through the De Beers Botswana Mining Company (Debswana), established in 1968. Festus, working as the Director of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning at the time, immediately understood the seminal importance of the diamond resource. Concerned that merely exporting rough diamonds would not build a viable, diversified economy, Festus championed beneficiation, the pr