Jacques Foccart

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Jacques Foccart (born August 31, 1913 in Ambrières , Mayenne , † March 19, 1997 in Paris ) was a French politician.

Life

Early years

Foccart was born in Ambrières in the Mayenne department . His family owned land on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe , where he spent the first six years of his life. During the Second World War he joined the Resistance , according to his biographer Pierre Jean, in order to escape charges by the German occupation authorities, for which he worked on the construction of the Atlantic Wall . He joined Free France early under Charles de Gaulle and worked for its intelligence service under André Dewavrin alias Colonel Passy . After the war he co-founded the militia-like security service Service d'action civique (SAC). The latter was able to mobilize groups of muscle men against left opponents in the violent political disputes of the 1950s and 1960s. The organization was dissolved in 1981 . In addition, he founded the successful import-export company SAFINEX , which was active in Africa and the Caribbean. In the 1950s he was general secretary of de Gaulle's collection movement Rassemblement du peuple français (RPF). Through his diverse contacts with the army and the intelligence service, he is said to have helped de Gaulle with his return to power in May 1958 .

Gray eminence

During de Gaulle and Pompidou's presidency , Foccart was considered the gray eminence of French Africa policy , or Monsieur Afrique for short . France tried to maintain its political and economic influence in its former African colonies even after their formal independence. Foccart's mostly discreet efforts were directed partly against the ambitions of the Eastern bloc , but also - if not predominantly - against competition from the USA . Foccart was the most important advisor to his presidents on African issues, and almost all actual and suspected French activities in Africa were associated with his name. One example is the bloody coup d'etat against Togo's first democratic government in 1963. The relationship with de Gaulle was very close, only when he flew briefly to Baden-Baden during the May riots in 1968 and it was to remain absolutely secret, he said to employees: “Don't even talk to Foccart about it”.

Foccart's main duties were

  • to maintain close contacts with the new African heads of state and governments
  • to protect the interests of French companies like Elf Aquitaine against those of other European countries and the USA
  • to ensure that the inevitable coups in the Francophonie countries did not endanger France's interests
  • if necessary to organize an intervention by France to maintain or overthrow a government
  • ensure that the French government has not been discredited by these activities
  • in short, to maintain a certain stability in French-speaking Africa.

During a state visit to Gabon in 1972 , President Pompidou was asked by a reporter whether it was true that France was behind all these coups. His answer was short: "Ask Foccart".

Last years

When the new President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing took office in 1974, Foccart's official role ended, but he continued to maintain contacts with African politicians. When Jacques Chirac became Prime Minister under President François Mitterrand for two years in 1986 , he brought Foccart to his place. When Chirac himself became president in 1995, Foccart was able to return to the Elysée Palace .

He wrote several books, in 1995 he published his memoir. Foccart contracted Parkinson's disease and died in 1997 in his Paris apartment.

Others

When the satirical magazine Le Canard enchaîné claimed in the early 1970s that Foccart had installed a bug in de Gaulle's office during his tenure, he went to court and won. He was awarded the symbolic compensation of one franc .

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