{"id":36631,"date":"2024-09-28T23:11:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T03:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/frances-mr-africa-spills-the-beans-on-secret-cash\/28\/09\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-09-28T23:11:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T03:11:56","slug":"frances-mr-africa-spills-the-beans-on-secret-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/frances-mr-africa-spills-the-beans-on-secret-cash\/28\/09\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"France&#8217;s Mr Africa spills the beans on secret cash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 342px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container\" style=\"padding-bottom:56%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Robert Bourgi has lifted the lid on decades of work with French and African presidents [JOHANNA LEGUERRE\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>It was January 1998 and Robert Bourgi was waiting to see the Gabonese president Omar Bongo, in an antechamber at his seaside palace in Libreville.<\/p>\n<p>He was there to collect funds for the approaching French presidential election on behalf of the centre-right Gaullist candidate Jacques Chirac, who was mayor of Paris at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Who should then be ushered into the same antechamber but Roland Dumas, former French foreign minister and right-hand man of ruling Socialist President Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand, Chirac\u2019s arch-rival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood day, Bourgi,\u201d said Dumas. \u201cI believe we are here for the same purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claiming seniority, Dumas went into Bongo\u2019s office first. Emerging a short time later, he said to Bourgi: \u201cDon\u2019t worry, there\u2019s still a bit left!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recounted in Bourgi\u2019s newly-published memoirs <em>They know that I know it all &#8211; My life in Fran\u00e7afrique<\/em>, the anecdote says everything about the money-grabbing and mutual dependence that for so long linked French and African politics.<\/p>\n<p>For four decades Robert Bourgi was at the centre of it all.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Senegal in 1945 to Lebanese Shiite parents, he rose to become a confidant of a generation of African leaders \u2013 from Omar Bongo in Gabon to Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and Blaise Compaor\u00e9 of Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 540px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-lightbox caas-img-loader\" style=\"padding-bottom:56%\" data-lightbox-src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/F1eQAQfcjkgetf9pkImAUg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTI0MDA7aD0xMzUw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/6ab1302328c70aa441bb159f997430bd\"><span class=\"caas-img-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"President Mobutu Sese Seko with Robert Bourgi\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/_B1v.am8eWq.wdtP_blwDg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/6ab1302328c70aa441bb159f997430bd\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"President Mobutu Sese Seko with Robert Bourgi\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/_B1v.am8eWq.wdtP_blwDg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/6ab1302328c70aa441bb159f997430bd\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><button class=\"link caas-lightbox\" aria-label=\"View larger image\" data-ylk=\"sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;elm:expand;itc:1\"><span class=\"openArrows icon\"><svg width=\"22\" height=\"22\" viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\"><path d=\"M12.372 0.92C12.372 0.414 12.782 0.004 13.287 0.004L21 0L20.996 7.712C20.996 8.217 20.586 8.628 20.08 8.628C19.574 8.628 19.164 8.217 19.164 7.712V3.183L12.337 10.011L10.988 8.663L17.816 1.835H13.287C12.782 1.835 12.372 1.425 12.372 0.92ZM1.835 17.816L8.663 10.988L10.012 12.337L3.183 19.164H7.712C8.218 19.164 8.627 19.574 8.627 20.08C8.627 20.586 8.218 20.995 7.712 20.995L0 21L0.004 13.287C0.004 12.782 0.414 12.372 0.92 12.372C1.425 12.372 1.835 12.782 1.835 13.287V17.816Z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Robert Bourgi (R) rubbed shoulders with some of Africa&#8217;s biggest leaders, including Mobutu Sese Seko of what was then Zaire [Robert Bourgi]<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>And in Paris, he inherited the mantle of the legendary Jacques Foccart \u2013 the Gaullist who oversaw the post-colonial <em>Fran\u00e7afrique<\/em> system, with its arrangements of influence and protection, markets, materials, muscle\u2026 and money.<\/p>\n<p>From the early years after World War Two \u2013 during which it had been a centre of activism in favour of France\u2019s post-war leader Charles de Gaulle &#8211; Africa and its former French colonies had been a source of financing for all French political parties. By the 1980s, when Bourgi came onto the scene, it was routine.<\/p>\n<p>Bourgi says that he himself never imported the bags of cash.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe procedure was simple. When there was an election approaching, Chirac made it clear that I should deliver a message in various African capitals,\u201d he said in an interview in Le Figaro newspaper this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe [African] heads of state then sent an emissary to my office in Paris with a large sum. Several million in francs or dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In each of the 1995 and 2002 presidential elections \u2013 both won by Chirac \u2013 he says around $10m (\u00a37.5m) was given by African leaders.<\/p>\n<p>The 2002 race provided Bourgi with another colourful story, when a representative of Burkinabe leader Blaise Compaor\u00e9 arrived in Paris with a large sum of money concealed in djembe drums.<\/p>\n<p>According to Bourgi, he accompanied the envoy to the Elys\u00e9e Palace, where they were greeted by Chirac. They opened the sealed drums using a pair of scissors, upon which a rain of banknotes fell out.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 433px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-lightbox caas-img-loader\" style=\"padding-bottom:56%\" data-lightbox-src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/qde9YY80Z8B9wzGbXaNMGw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTE1Mzg7aD04NjY-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/cbacd1aea178209abe412ddeafff2d03\"><span class=\"caas-img-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"French President Jacques Chirac (L) talks to his counterpart Blaise Compaor\u00e9 of Burkina Faso, after a press conference at the end of the ninth Francophone summit in Beirut, 20 October 2002\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/.xcXJjlq2nN5okBvn7iuHw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MQ--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/cbacd1aea178209abe412ddeafff2d03\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"French President Jacques Chirac (L) talks to his counterpart Blaise Compaor\u00e9 of Burkina Faso, after a press conference at the end of the ninth Francophone summit in Beirut, 20 October 2002\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/.xcXJjlq2nN5okBvn7iuHw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MQ--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/cbacd1aea178209abe412ddeafff2d03\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><button class=\"link caas-lightbox\" aria-label=\"View larger image\" data-ylk=\"sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;elm:expand;itc:1\"><span class=\"openArrows icon\"><svg width=\"22\" height=\"22\" viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\"><path d=\"M12.372 0.92C12.372 0.414 12.782 0.004 13.287 0.004L21 0L20.996 7.712C20.996 8.217 20.586 8.628 20.08 8.628C19.574 8.628 19.164 8.217 19.164 7.712V3.183L12.337 10.011L10.988 8.663L17.816 1.835H13.287C12.782 1.835 12.372 1.425 12.372 0.92ZM1.835 17.816L8.663 10.988L10.012 12.337L3.183 19.164H7.712C8.218 19.164 8.627 19.574 8.627 20.08C8.627 20.586 8.218 20.995 7.712 20.995L0 21L0.004 13.287C0.004 12.782 0.414 12.372 0.92 12.372C1.425 12.372 1.835 12.782 1.835 13.287V17.816Z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Burkina Faso officials denied the allegations surrounding Blaise Compaor\u00e9 (R) and large sums of cash for Jacques Chirac (L) [RAMZI HAIDAR\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cTypical Blaise,\u201d Bourgi quotes Chirac as saying. \u201cHe\u2019s sent us small denominations.\u201d The money was apparently all in fives and tens.<\/p>\n<p>Handling the cash was not always easy. Remembering a big donation to Chirac from another African leader, Bourgi says: \u201cThe money arrived in Puma sports bags. I wanted to put the wads in paper so I went into my daughter\u2019s room and took down one of her posters, and wrapped the money in that.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 539px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-lightbox caas-img-loader\" style=\"padding-bottom:56%\" data-lightbox-src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/HpqmWYeFgy2ll4xOTY4x1A--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTIxMDQ7aD0xMTgy\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/353321b55978fee75074c93a21989a2f\"><span class=\"caas-img-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"Blaise Compaor\u00e9 of Burkina Faso (R) with Bourgi (C) and Ivorian official Georges Ou\u00e9gnin (L)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/Ujh4Jl4tddBWvrIg61Y41g--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUzOQ--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/353321b55978fee75074c93a21989a2f\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Blaise Compaor\u00e9 of Burkina Faso (R) with Bourgi (C) and Ivorian official Georges Ou\u00e9gnin (L)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/Ujh4Jl4tddBWvrIg61Y41g--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUzOQ--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/353321b55978fee75074c93a21989a2f\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><button class=\"link caas-lightbox\" aria-label=\"View larger image\" data-ylk=\"sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;elm:expand;itc:1\"><span class=\"openArrows icon\"><svg width=\"22\" height=\"22\" viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\"><path d=\"M12.372 0.92C12.372 0.414 12.782 0.004 13.287 0.004L21 0L20.996 7.712C20.996 8.217 20.586 8.628 20.08 8.628C19.574 8.628 19.164 8.217 19.164 7.712V3.183L12.337 10.011L10.988 8.663L17.816 1.835H13.287C12.782 1.835 12.372 1.425 12.372 0.92ZM1.835 17.816L8.663 10.988L10.012 12.337L3.183 19.164H7.712C8.218 19.164 8.627 19.574 8.627 20.08C8.627 20.586 8.218 20.995 7.712 20.995L0 21L0.004 13.287C0.004 12.782 0.414 12.372 0.92 12.372C1.425 12.372 1.835 12.782 1.835 13.287V17.816Z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Bourgi (C) here with Blaise Compaor\u00e9 of Burkina Faso (R) and an Ivorian official [Robert Bourgi]<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The system was so widespread that it gave rise to a verb <em>cadeauter<\/em> \u2013 from the French<em> cadeau, <\/em>meaning a present.<\/p>\n<p>When Bourgi\u2019s allegations first surfaced in 2011 they were denied by officials in Burkina Faso and elsewhere, although a former presidential adviser in Ivory Coast conceded they were \u201chistorical practice\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Jacques Chirac and his then chief of staff Dominique de Villepin also strenuously denied Bourgi\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n<p>A preliminary investigation was opened but later dropped without further action, because the payments were considered too long ago.<\/p>\n<p>For African leaders at the time, says Bourgi, it was normal, and they did it among themselves. Giving large sums of money was a way of establishing trust and support.<\/p>\n<p>But in a changing world it was unsustainable and Bourgi says he grew disillusioned. Nicolas Sarkozy came to power in 2007 vowing not to take a single franc from Africa, and Bourgi says he kept to his word.<\/p>\n<p>Sarkozy has since been placed under investigation for allegedly taking campaign funds from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi &#8211; which he denies. Bourgi, a Sarkozy loyalist, says he does not believe the charges.<\/p>\n<p>The former lawyer, now aged 79, also reflects on his rather different role in another election &#8211; that of Emmanuel Macron in 2017. That was when Bourgi helped scupper the chances of the man who was for a time the runaway favourite, the conservative Fran\u00e7ois Fillon.<\/p>\n<p>Once close to Fillon, Bourgi had become estranged: he accused the former prime minister of being rude and stingy. So he released to a journalist the fact that he had made Fillon a gift of two very expensive suits.<\/p>\n<p>Campaigning on a message of probity, Fillon never recovered. Later he was convicted of giving a fake parliamentary job to his British wife.<\/p>\n<p>But Africa is Bourgi\u2019s love.<\/p>\n<p>He reflects that though the corruption at the heart of Fran\u00e7afrique was wrong, the system at the time brought stability, and a bond &#8211; often personal &#8211; between French and African leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Today, that is gone.<\/p>\n<p>France has a worsening image in its former colonies, and its influence is on the wane. Witness the recent retreat from its former army bases in Mali and Niger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI note with sadness the disintegration of French relations with the continent,\u201d Bourgi says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it is too easy to put all the blame on Fran\u00e7afrique\u2026 Africa has globalised. France has been unable to adapt to this new fact. And it keeps making the same mistake: arrogance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" style=\"display:block\" class=\"lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=75&resize=75 75w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=100&resize=100 100w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=150&resize=150 150w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=240&resize=240 240w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=320&resize=320 320w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=500&resize=500 500w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=640&resize=640 640w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=800&resize=800 800w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=1024&resize=1024 1024w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=1280&resize=1280 1280w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?w=1600&resize=1600 1600w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/frances-mr-africa-spills-beans-023252296.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Bourgi has lifted the lid on decades of work with French and African presidents [JOHANNA LEGUERRE\/AFP] It was January 1998 and<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/frances-mr-africa-spills-the-beans-on-secret-cash\/28\/09\/2024\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}