The man who ran Francafrique

National Interest, The, Fall, 1997 by Kaye Whiteman

One of the secrets of Foccart's power lay in his relations with the leadership of French-speaking Africa, which he took great pains to cultivate. "You are our fetish": the words are those of President Maurice Yameogo of Upper Volta, spoken in 1960 to the visiting Foccart, then the newly appointed adviser to President de Gaulle on African affairs. It was the year in which Upper Volta became independent, along with a dozen or so other territories that had constituted France's African empire.

Many of them had not expected to achieve independence on their own. Upper Volta in particular, a landlocked stretch of land in the drought-prone Sahel, had only been put together as a territory in the 1930s. It was and remains - one of the poorest countries in the world. In its short existence it had been part of the AOF (French West Africa), which collapsed on the eve of independence in 1960, with its eight territories going their separate ways, and most still feeling a desperate need for French protection.

Hence the naming of Foccart as a "fetish", reflecting a feeling that he had magical or mystical properties. Because of his unique connection to de Gaulle, he was even then a symbolic figure, the door through which access to the General was obtained. De Gaulle at that time was in the process of betraying French Algeria in the highest interest of state, paving the way for one of the more enduring aspects of his reputation, that of "the great decolonizer."(2) The context was one of military defeat in Indochina and Algeria, so it was vital that futile colonial wars not be repeated south of the Sahara. This was France's last significant imperial stamping ground, and a successful decolonization, in the manner of the British, was important for the self-esteem, indeed for the future, of the French state.(3)

Decolonization south of the Sahara did not happen as de Gaulle had intended. He had wanted a Franco-African Community that stopped short of total independence. But when Sekou Toure's Guinea voted "no" in the 1958 referendum on that Community, the idea was effectively dead. Guinea was cast into outer darkness because of its decision and a Community of sorts came into existence, but the call of full independence proved too strong to resist.

Not really having planned for it, in 1960 de Gaulle had to improvise structures for a collection of small newly independent states, each with a flag, an anthem, and a seat at the UN, but often with precious little else. It was here that Foccart came to play an essential role, that of architect of the series of Cooperation accords with each new state in the sectors of finance and economy, culture and education, and the military. There were initially eleven countries involved: Mauritania, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Dahomey (now Benin), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Niger, Chad, Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, and Madagascar. Togo and Cameroon, former UN Trust Territories, were also co-opted into the club. So, too, later on, were Mall and the former Belgian territories (Ruanda-Urundi, now Rwanda and Burundi, and Congo-Kinshasa), some of the ex-Portuguese territories, and Comoros and Djibouti, which had also been under French rule for many years but became independent in the 1970s. The whole ensemble was put under a new Ministry of Cooperation, created in 1961, separate from the Ministry of Overseas Departments and Territories (known as the DOM-TOM) that had previously run them all.