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Jean-Yves Ollivier

Founding Chairman

Jean-Yves Ollivier was, behind the scenes, the kingpin of the Brazzaville protocol. He is the only foreigner to have received South Africa's highest honors, first in 1987 for organising the first and most important regional prisoner exchange, and then from Nelson Mandela in 1995 for his contribution to peace. Jean-Yves Ollivier has made a career as a commodities trader in China, the Middle East and Africa and has engaged privately in international mediation, using his professional contacts in the service of peace. Among the many other peace mediations in which he has participated, Jean-Yves Ollivier played an important role in the negotiations that facilitated the departure of mercenary Bob Denard from the Comoros in 1989 and in the Sun City talks that led to power sharing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between President Joseph Kabila and four rebel leaders in 2002. He also played a role in the reconciliation between Uganda and Sudan, paving the way for the independence of Southern Sudan in 2011. Wanting to work in the philanthropic community, he founded Brazzaville Foundation in 2015.

Distinctions

- Grand Officer of the Order of Good Hope by South African President Nelson Mandela (1995)

- Officer of the Legion of Honor and Knight of the French National Order of Merit (1994)

- Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Congo (2014)

- Commander of the Order of Mono in Togo (2011)

- Commander of the National Order of the Lion of Senegal (2020)

- Officer of the Order of the Star of Anjouan in Comoros (2014)

- Officer of the National Order of Niger (2021)

Documentary

Watch the film

Plot for Peace, a 2013 documentary produced by African Oral History Archive and directed by Spanish filmmaker Carlos Agullò, traces Jean-Yves Ollivier's contribution to the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Southern Africa. Through the testimonies of the main participants and previously unseen archives, this fascinating historical-political documentary tells the story of how Jean-Yves Ollivier, alias "Mr. Jacques," helped bring about an unprecedented negotiation to achieve peace in Southern Africa. The film entered the archives of the United Nations following a screening at its headquarters in New York. It also won the Best International Documentary Award at the Galway Film Festival and the Brizzolara Foundation Award for Best Film on Conflict Resolution at the Hamptons Film Festival.

Bibliography

Read more

Neither seen nor known, Jean-Yves Ollivier has co-written many fascinating pages of the history of the late twentieth century. Close to Jacques Chirac and friend of Michel Roussin, he played a notable role in the liberation of the four French hostages held in Lebanon by Hezbollah in 1988. Missi dominici of Jacques Foccart in English- and Portuguese-speaking Africa, he initiated a successful peace negotiation in Southern Africa that led to the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid. With verve and humor, Jean-Yves Ollivier recounts his life as a "political negotiator" - his self-definition. Fascinating in its freedom of tone and action, this testimony published in 2014 reveals many of the small secrets that make up the big story.

Commitments

SINCE 2014

- Hostage mediation in Central African Republic

 

2016

- Presentation of the Congo Basin Blue Fund project at the plenary session of the African Action Summit, organised at the COP22, in Marrakech, Kingdom of Morocco

 

2017

- Intervention for the resolution of the political crisis that followed the departure of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo

- Participation in the signing of the memorandum of understanding on the creation of the Congo Basin Blue Fund, in Oyo, Republic of Congo

 

2018

- Organisation of the intra-Libyan dialogue in Dakar, Senegal

- Appointment of Goodwill Ambassadors of the Congo Basin Blue Fund

 

2020

- Organisation of a series of meetings at the highest diplomatic level to prevent possible conflicts in Ivory Coast

- Organisation of the Lomé Summit and the Lomé Initiative against Medicines that kill

 

2021

Intervention at the round table at high level "From COP22 to COP26: The Congo Basin Blue Fund, an African and global issue.

- Participation in COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland

 

2022

- Participation in the COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

 

2023

- Facilitation of Russia-Ukraine dialogue

 

2024

- Organisation and participation in the first edition of the Marrakesh Meetings