Leonard Henry Thatcher

Leonard Henry Thatcher is the chairman of Nile Trading and Development (an affiliate of Kinyeti Development).

According to Business Insider, "Nile Trading and Development (NTD is an affiliate of Kinyeti Development); Mukaya Payam Cooperative; NTD's Chairman, Leonard Henry Thatcher; Howard Eugene Douglas, Kinyeti's Managing Director, a former United States Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Refugee Affairs and a Director at Orbis Associates; Kinyeti's Secretary, Christopher Weikert Douglas, who in 2008 worked at the United States Consulate in Dusseldorf, Germany and is a Director at Orbis Associates; and NTD's president, David Neiman" are buying large areas of land in Africa.


 * "The land they're buying: 600,000 hectares (with a possibility of 400,000 additional hectares) for 75,000 Sudanese Pounds (equivalent to approximately USD 25,000) in South Sudan.


 * "The future development: NTD's plans are unknown, according to the Oakland Institute. But they have the rights to do whatever they want. Two clues: 1. A letter NTD's president, David Neiman, wrote to the governor of the Central Equatoria State says that he intends to develop the land's timber resources. 2. Neimann entered into a “contractual alliance” with Tony Paris of Paris Broadcasting Cable 7 in June 2008 for algal agrofuel production in South Sudan.


 * "The scandal: The company that leased the land to NTD is described as an influential group of natives who leased the land out behind the backs of the entire community by Sudan’s Agency for Independent Media (AIM). AIM also says "In reality, the cooperative does not exist on the ground... [Some communities are in favor of the deal but] what is common among all of them is that they are not all well informed about the advantages and disadvantages of the deal."

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Global Land Grab

External Resources

 * Food Crisis and the Global Land Grab

External Articles

 * Courtney Comstock, "Meet The Millionaires And Billionaires Suddenly Buying Tons Of Land In Africa," Business Insider, June 30, 2011.