In a written response to those grievances, Climate Home was told that Greenpeace Africa<\/a> \u201cvalues the rights and voices of our employees and fosters an inclusive and collaborative work environment\u201d. \u201cOur policies align with the legal requirements in each country,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n As one of the highest-profile environmental organisations on the African continent, Greenpeace has an ambitious\u00a0vision<\/a>\u00a0to bring about \u201can Africa where people live in harmony with nature in a peaceful state of environmental and social justice\u201d. The internal turmoil uncovered by Climate<\/a> Home raises questions about its ability to meet that goal.<\/p>\n The terms of reference for\u00a0a three-month operational review<\/a>\u00a0of the organisation, which was due to start in August 2023, cited a need for cultural change as a key reason for the restructuring. It said collaborative processes intended to boost productivity and accountability had failed, slowing down the delivery of a 2022-2025 strategic plan.<\/p>\n That four-year strategy \u201caimed to transform Greenpeace Africa, to be a viable organisation working on campaigns delivering systemic impacts in Africa, with an operating model<\/a> that is fit for purpose and responsive to the challenges facing the continent\u201d, the document added.<\/p>\n It also showed that Greenpeace Africa wanted to ensure it had enough of a presence in richer African nations to improve fundraising \u2013 an argument that was later used by management as a justification for downsizing offices in poorer nations like DRC.<\/p>\n Greenpeace told Climate<\/a> Home this shift was\u00a0\u201cpart of a broader effort to ensure that Greenpeace Africa remains financially sustainable. This approach strengthens our capacity<\/a> to promote environmental justice in all regions, including those with fewer resources.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the shake-up, Climate Home understands that more than 10 former employees have launched legal action against Greenpeace Africa in labour courts in South Africa and Senegal, alleging unfair treatment by the organisation. Greenpeace Africa did not respond to questions on the cases, which are ongoing.<\/p>\n It said, however, that its 2023-2024 restructuring was conducted \u201cwith the utmost care\u201d, and \u201cin accordance with all relevant labour laws in each of our countries and ethical guidelines\u201d.<\/p>\n New strategy In a\u00a0statement<\/a>, it said she would \u201clead the implementation of the organisation\u2019s new strategy which, grounded in African consciousness, seeks to dismantle systems which have historically served only to benefit the colonial powers, still plundering Africa for its resources\u201d.<\/p>\n Then board chair Oury Traor\u00e9, a fellow Malian who resigned this year, said in the statement that it was \u201ccritical to build a movement led by women and youth\u201d. As a woman joining from the United Nations youth platform\u00a0YouthConnekt Africa<\/a>, Keita seemed well-placed to do that.<\/p>\n Staff were initially pleased with Keita\u2019s appointment as executive director, which ended the long hunt for a permanent leader. \u201cWe were very excited,\u201d said one then staff member in Senegal. \u201cWe had the sense that the organisation would become more stable.\u201d<\/p>\n But that did not happen. Just a week later, an email landed in the inbox of Greenpeace Africa\u2019s people and culture director Paul Ngugi and its then lead campaigner on climate and energy<\/a> Melita Steele, flagging earlier support by Keita for Rwandan President Paul Kagame.<\/p>\n Sent by the head of Greenpeace Africa\u2019s Congo rainforest campaign at the time, and signed on behalf of \u201cthe Congo Basin<\/a> team\u201d, the email raised \u201cserious concerns\u201d about Keita\u2019s appointment, due to her alleged \u201cvery high admiration of Paul Kagame and her public communication to praise and admire him\u201d.<\/p>\n The email, seen by Climate Home, included 15 posts by Keita on X (formerly Twitter), sent between November 2020 and October 2022. They praised Kagame\u2019s \u201cexemplary leadership\u201d, calling him a \u201cvisionary\u201d, \u201crare jewel\u201d and \u201cmy Favourite President in the world\u201d. Keita said she had moved to Rwanda \u201cbecause of the admiration and respect I have for this man!\u201d<\/p>\n Commenting on this, the email from the Congo Basin<\/a> team said that having a leader of Greenpeace Africa with that kind of admiration for Kagame was a serious problem for them and their work.<\/p>\n The United Nations\u00a0has accused<\/a>\u00a0the military forces of Rwanda, governed by Kagame since 2000, of sending 4,000 troops to invade parts of neighbouring DRC and of backing Congolese rebel group M23. The violence has displaced millions of people in the DRC, which is home to large swathes of the world\u2019s second-largest rainforest \u2013 a huge carbon<\/a> store whose protection is regarded as vital to curbing global warming.<\/p>\n The email noted that the Congo Basin team had been preparing a statement on the DRC conflict for Greenpeace Africa\u2019s leadership to endorse, \u201cas for us our organisation\u2019s silence on this conflict is no longer acceptable\u201d. It added that the DRC office now believed \u201cour new ED [Keita] would never accept such a statement\u201d.<\/p>\n A mourning ceremony for the victims of the DRC conflict took place in the city<\/a> of Goma on September 2, 2024. (Photo: Arlette Bashizi\/Reuters)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Internal \u201csmear campaign\u201d On March 16, 2023, Greenpeace Africa\u2019s then head of communication, Johannesburg-based Mbong Akiy Fokwa Tsafack, sent an email to staff on the subject of \u201cthe smear campaign\u201d against the new executive director.<\/p>\n Greenpeace Africa, it said, wanted \u201cto express its ultimate concern and disgust at the onslaught\u201d. It accused unnamed people of using a \u201ccolonial approach, of divide and rule, taking advantage of the fragile political situation in the DRC to drive their agenda\u201d and to \u201cresist the transformation that is required to bring credibility to the presence of Greenpeace in Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n Shortly afterwards, Keita herself sent a conciliatory email with no reference to Tsafack\u2019s message. Keita said she had \u201cheard with distress, yet with solidarity, the cries of the staff in the DRC who are rightfully disturbed about tweets on my social media handle\u201d.<\/p>\n The posts, she noted, were made while she led YouthConnekt, which was chaired by Rwanda. \u201cCheering, supporting and celebrating the political will of these African leaders towards investing in the youth<\/a> of Africa, including the main Champion the President of Rwanda as the co-initiator of this continental initiative was a big part of the job,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Keita added that she had \u201cno personal political affiliations with any African<\/a> countries\u201d, thanked colleagues for raising \u201cvalid\u201d concerns, and appealed for unity \u201cto build the Africa we all want to live in\u201d.<\/p>\n Keita did not respond to a request for comment for this article.\u00a0Greenpeace Africa\u2019s website\u00a0<\/a>states that the organisation \u201cdoes not take sides in conflicts and wars on the African continent\u201d, in line with Greenpeace\u2019s global policy on peace.<\/p>\n About seven months later, in October, Greenpeace Africa\u2019s finance<\/a> director, South African Gerhard Combrink, held a video call with the DRC office to tell staff there that management had decided \u201cto close down\u201d their office and centralise activities for the Congo Basin in Cameroon.<\/p>\n The announcement seemed to come as a surprise to those attending, many of whom criticised the decision. Combrink said the Greenpeace Africa<\/a> board had \u201cconsulted widely with Greenpeace International and with other [national or regional offices], especially Belgium\u201d, the DRC\u2019s former colonial ruler. But staff in the DRC said on the call<\/a> they had not been included.<\/p>\n The then lead for the Congo Basin team said that, as three-fifths of the Congo rainforest is in the DRC, losing the office there would be a \u201chistorical error\u201d and would damage the organisation\u2019s credibility globally.<\/p>\n The forest \u2013 and its central role in keeping climate change<\/a> in check \u2013 is threatened by government-backed efforts to drill for oil and by industrial logging.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like closing an office in Brazil, and you say you\u2019ll be campaigning from somewhere else to try to save the Amazon forest<\/a>. It doesn\u2019t work,\u201d the team lead said. \u201cClosing it will send a signal to many other African countries<\/a> saying that no, this Greenpeace is not an organisation that we can count on,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n Environmental activists, with a banner co-signed by Greenpeace Africa, protest in Kinshasa, DRC, on November 29, 2019. (Photo: Hereward Holland\/Reuters)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Combrink said one \u201cfundamental\u201d reason for the decision was \u201cthe security issues we face and our inability to openly confront the government without placing our staff at risk\u201d. He noted that the organisation had evacuated staff to safeguard them against threats. The campaigner, who did not respond to Climate Home\u2019s request<\/a> for comment, replied that these evacuations had only been \u201cpreventive\u201d and no DRC employees had been arrested.<\/p>\n Fundraising prioritised
\n<\/strong>On March 1, 2023, the Greenpeace Africa board\u00a0announced\u00a0that, after a series of interim bosses, Mali-born development expert Keita had been appointed as executive director.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2024\/10\/01115502\/Mourning-ceremony.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The email led to frantic activity at the top of Greenpeace Africa. The organisation\u2019s engagement director brought forward training on social media use and prepared what she called a \u201crisk mitigation<\/a> comms plan for this particular concern\u201d.<\/p>\nCongo office closure<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2024\/10\/01115844\/Kinshasa-protest.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Combrink said another reason for shutting the DRC office was that, due to the war in Ukraine, funding from Germany \u2013 a key source of income for Greenpeace Africa \u2013 was drying up. He said that \u201cthe [Greenpeace Africa] board is adamant that if we do have activities, it is necessary that we focus on fundraising within those countries\u201d, adding it was not possible to \u201csubstantially\u201d raise funds in the DRC, one of Africa\u2019s poorest countries.<\/p>\n