Ambassador Harold E. Doley, Jr., first United States Executive Director to the African Development Bank and Fund, remembers the 'Titan of Africa' Babacar Ndiaye.
The Greek mythological Titan of Forethought, Prometheus, dared to disobey Zeus’ wishes by sharing fire and heat with humanity.
His punishment was to be shackled to the Caucasus Mountains (The derivation of Caucasian comes from the people of the Caucasus Mountains.).
This humane act for mankind led to eternal condemnation. Each day, the eagles ate Prometheus’s organs, but because he was a Titan (i.e. god), the organs grew back.
Prometheus endured this daily fate until Hercules broke his chains.
Babacar Ndiaye lived the life of Prometheus. He did what he knew was right and paid the price many times over. Many people that Babacar helped throughout his life hurt him and hurt him dearly.
I personally saw him reconcile with each one of those people, even though just one of those blows could have been mortal.
Babacar was a religious man who knew the Koran as well as the Old and New Testaments and understood that we are all One.
He recognized that Ishmael was Abraham’s first son and the forbearer of Islam, as well as the Old Testament’s teachings of Noah and his son, Ham.
That book teaches that Ham’s descendants are Black and cursed to always be the servant of servants (slaves). In the New Testament, Babacar also recognized that two men carried the cross to Calvary, one was Jesus and the other was Simon of Cyrene, a black man.
God and history created Babacar. He was a compilation of Prometheus, Ishmael, Ham and Simon of Cyrene. Many know that Babacar created Shelter Afrique, the African Export/Import Bank, and the African Business Roundtable.
What is lesser known is that Babacar orchestrated the quadrupling of the capital of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Did you know that Babacar secured the first AAA rating for an African institution or sovereign country? Did you know that Colonel Gaddafi asked Babacar to deliver a letter expressing his wish to reconcile with the United States?
Further, did you know that the superpowers agreed through a series of votes that the next Secretary General of the United Nations would be an African?
Had Boutros Boutros-Ghali not prevailed following a stalemate in votes, the name Babacar Ndiaye was to be put forward for the Secretary General’s position at the UN.
In 1985, the year Babacar was elected President of the AfDB, Hughlyn Fierce, who was Senior Executive Vice President of Chase Bank, received approval not to renew the debt of South Africa.
This decision immediately put South Africa in default on all of its external debt, forcing the close of the foreign currency exchange window and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Less than 60 days after, President P.W. Botha gave his Rubicon speech in Durban and spoke of the new South Africa. Within a matter of weeks, Nelson Mandela was moved from prison to a halfway house and the rest is history.
Babacar supported Chase Bank to an extraordinary level, demonstrating you support us, we will support you. It was the forethought of these two men of color, Fierce and Ndiaye, which brought about this change.
Babacar was a man who handled tens of billions of dollars, yet he did not die wealthy in monetary terms.
Babacar’s earthly chains have been broken, and he now resides with his Father. He has done his job and done it extraordinarily well.
Do not cry for Babacar. He has finally escaped his shackles. However, you should weep for Africa, which is indebted to him, for it has lost the greatest of its Titans.