Jacques Foccart
Jacques Foccart | |
---|---|
Secretary-General for African and Malagasy Affairs | |
In office 1960–1974 | |
President | Charles de Gaulle Georges Pompidou |
Succeeded by | René Journiac |
Secretary-General of Rally of the French People | |
In office 1954–1954 | |
Preceded by | Louis Terrenoire |
Succeeded by | Michel Anfrol |
Personal details | |
Born | Jacques Koch-Foccart 31 August 1913 Ambrières-les-Vallées, Mayenne |
Died | 19 March 1997 Paris | (aged 83)
Nationality | French |
Political party | Rally of the French People |
Spouse |
Isabelle Fenoglio (m. 1939) |
Parents |
|
Signature | |
Nickname | Monsieur Afrique (Mr. Africa) |
Jacques Foccart (31 August 1913 – 19 March 1997) was a French businessman and politician, best known as a chief adviser to
From 1960 to 1974, Foccart was Secretary-General for African and Malagasy Affairs under Presidents Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou,[1][6] and was pivotal in maintaining France's sphere of influence in sub-Saharan Africa (or Françafrique) by putting in place a series of cooperation accords with individual African countries and building a dense web of personal networks that underpinned the informal and family-like relationships between French and African leaders.[2][5][7] After de Gaulle, Foccart was seen as the most influential man of the Fifth Republic.[citation needed] But through SAC, he was considered to be involved in various coups d'état in Africa during the 1960s. Nevertheless, Foccart retained his functions during Georges Pompidou's presidency (1969–74).
In 1974,
Early life and career
Jacques Foccart was born on August 31, 1913, in
Postcolonial Africa
Foccart played a central role in what became known as Françafrique, France's sphere of influence over its former colonies in sub-Saharan Africa.[5] He was instrumental in putting in place the dense web of personal networks (or réseaux), a central feature of Françafrique, that underpinned the informal and family-like relationships between French and African leaders, which would go on to survive until the 1990s.[8][7]
According to the US conservative magazine , which had also been under French rule for many years but became independent in the 1970s, were also later included.
The whole ensemble was put under a new Ministry of Cooperation, created in 1961, separate from the
Close to
National Interest's review of his biography goes on with Foccart's admission that the French secret services eliminated the Cameroonian Marxist leader Félix-Roland Moumié in 1960. Furthermore, it quotes "some reports" which "suggested that Foccart and Houphouët spoke on the phone every Wednesday, and there is no doubt that he considered the Ivoirian leader the African centerpiece of his network. They operated together on a number of issues. Interventions such as that in Gabon in 1964 and Chad in 1969 were encouraged by the Foccart-Houphouet tandem. The most significant collaboration between Foccart and Houphouet was the way they tried to persuade de Gaulle to back the Biafran secession from Nigeria in 1967. Despite the pressures they exerted, however, de Gaulle refused to recognize Biafra, and, in retrospect, so guarded and elliptical are some of Foccart's statements that one cannot be sure what he really wanted or expected from de Gaulle at the time."
Jacques Foccart remained in service under Georges Pompidou's presidency (1969–1974). In 1972, Mongo Beti's Cruel hand on Cameroon, autopsy of a decolonization was censored upon its publication by François Maspero by the Ministry of the Interior Raymond Marcellin on the request, brought forward by Jacques Foccart, of the Cameroon government, represented in Paris by the ambassador Ferdinand Oyono.
Foccart was then replaced by President
Foccart was then rehabilitated in 1986 by new Premier
Domestic activities
However, his role was not limited to Africa, as he was also charged by De Gaulle with the secret services and with the following of the elections, in particular concerning the choice of the candidates during the 1960s. The
With
1990s
In 1995, Jacques Foccart was part of president Jacques Chirac's visit to Morocco, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Gabon, all countries led by friends of Françafrique.
Such had been his influence on French colonial and post colonial policy that when he died on March 19, 1997, "For those involved with what has come to be known nowadays as "Françafrique", denoting the special French sphere of influence in Africa, many, along with Albert Bourgi of Jeune Afrique, saw Foccart's death as 'the end of an epoch.' "[2]
The publication of his memoirs under the format of interviews at the end of his life, and the Journal de l'Elysée also published, in which, starting from 1965, Jacques Foccart transcribed his daily meetings with De Gaulle, have proved an invaluable resource for the knowledge of French policies in Africa.
Furthermore, at his trial in 2006, mercenary
See also
- Colonialism and decolonization
- Colonization of Africa
- Comoresand elsewhere
- Françafrique, France's sphere of influence over its former colonies in sub-Saharan Africa
- Omar Bongo, president of Gabon
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Gnassingbé Eyadéma, president of Togo until his death in 2005 (replaced by his son Faure Gnassingbé)
References
- ^ a b c d e Johnson, Douglas (20 March 1997). "Obituary: Jacques Foccart". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ JSTOR 42897073.
- ^ a b Whitney, Craig R. (20 March 1997). "Jacques Foccart dies at 83; secret mastermind in Africa". New York Times. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ a b c "Jacques Foccart". The Economist. 27 Mar 1997. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ S2CID 145093241.
- ^ Office of the Historian (13 January 1970). "Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume E-5, Documents on Africa, 1969-1972". 2001-2009 Archive for the United States Department of State. United States Department of State. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
- ^ S2CID 73691402.
- JSTOR 3518538.
- ^ . Originally published in Danish as Smukke Serge og Heroien, Bogan, 1976
- ^ "Putsch aux Comores : cinq ans de prison requis contre Bob Denard". Le Monde (in French). March 9, 2006.
Bibliography
- Pierre Péan L'Homme de l'Ombre (Man of the Shadows) Fayard, (1990)
- Affaires Africaines (African Business), Fayard, (1983)
- Jacques Foccart, Foccart parle, interviews with Philippe Gaillard, Fayard - Jeune Afrique
- tome I, 1995, 500 pp., ISBN 2-213-59419-8
- tome II, 1997, 523 pp., ISBN 2-213-59498-8
- tome I, 1995, 500 pp.,
- Jacques Foccart, Journal de l'Élysée, Fayard - Jeune Afrique
- tome 1 : Tous les soirs avec de Gaulle (1965-1967), 1997, 813 pp. ISBN 2-213-59565-8
- tome 2 : Le Général en mai (1968-1969), 1998, ISBN 2-213-60057-0
- tome 3 : Dans les bottes du Général, (1969–1971), 1999, 787 pp., ISBN 2-213-60316-2
- tome 4 : La France pompidolienne (1971-1972), 2000, ISBN 2-213-60580-7
- tome 5 : La Fin du gaullisme (1973-1974), 2001
- tome 1 : Tous les soirs avec de Gaulle (1965-1967), 1997, 813 pp.
- Jean-François Miniac, Les grandes affaires criminelles de l'Orne, de Borée, (2008). ( about Emile Buffon, François Van Aerden and Foccart in Orne during the war.)
External links
- Assassination of Félix-Roland Moumié, a Camerounian nationalist leader