Johanna Legere/AFPIt was January 1998, and Robert Bourgi was ready within the lobby of Libreville’s seaside palace to fulfill Gabonese President Omar Bongo.
He was there to lift funds for the upcoming French presidential election on behalf of centre-right Gaullist candidate Jacques Chirac, then mayor of Paris.
Who must be ushered into the identical entrance room however Roland Dumas, France’s former international minister and Chirac’s principal rival and right-hand man of the ruling Socialist President François Mitterrand.
“Good day, Burgy,” Dumas stated. “I imagine we’re right here for a similar goal.”
Dumas, happy with his seniority, walked into Bongo’s workplace first. After some time he got here out and stated to Burgi: “Don’t be concerned, there may be yet another factor!”
That is recounted in Burge’s newly revealed memoir They know I do know every little thing – my life in FranceThe anecdote speaks volumes concerning the money-grabbing and interdependent relationship that has lengthy existed between French and African politics.
For forty years, Robert Burge has been on the middle of all of it.
Born in Senegal in 1945 to Lebanese Shia mother and father, he turned a confidant of a technology of African leaders – from Omar Bongo in Gabon to Denis Sassou Nguesso within the Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso Blaise Compaoré.
Robert BurgeIn Paris, he inherited the legacy of the legendary Jacques Foccart, the Gaullist who oversaw the post-colonial Fafei Methods, and their preparations of affect and safety, markets, supplies, energy… and cash.
From the early years after World Struggle II – throughout which era Africa was a middle of activism in help of France’s postwar chief Charles de Gaulle – Africa and its former French colonies have been a supply of funding for all French political events. By the Nineteen Eighties, when Bourgi got here on the scene, this had develop into the norm.
Burgi stated he by no means imported the bag of money himself.
“The process was easy. When the elections had been approaching, Chirac made it clear that I ought to ship the message in African capitals.
“this [African] The heads of state then despatched envoys to my workplace in Paris with a big sum of cash. Hundreds of thousands of francs or {dollars}.
He stated African leaders donated round $10m (£7.5m) within the 1995 and 2002 presidential elections that Chirac received.
The 2002 competitors offered one other colourful story for Bourgui, when representatives of Burkina Faso chief Blaise Compaoré arrived in Paris with a big sum of cash hidden in an African drum.
In keeping with Bourgi, he accompanied the envoys to the Elysée Palace, the place Chirac greeted them. They used scissors to open the sealed bucket and a big amount of cash fell out.
Ramsey Haidar/AFP“Typical Blaise,” Burgy quoted Chirac as saying. “He despatched us cash in small denominations.” The cash was apparently 5 and ten {dollars}.
Dealing with money is not at all times simple. Burgi remembers a big donation made to Chirac by one other African chief, saying: “The cash was in a Puma sports activities bag. I wished to place a wad of cash in a paper, so I went into my daughter’s room, took down one in every of her posters and put her pockets inside.
Robert BurgeThis method was so widespread that it gave rise to a verb reward giver ——from France Reward, It means a present.
When Bourgui’s accusations first surfaced in 2011, officers in Burkina Faso and elsewhere denied them, though a former presidential adviser in Ivory Coast admitted they had been “historic apply.”
Jacques Chirac and his then chief of workers, Dominique de Villepin, additionally strenuously denied Burge’s claims.
An preliminary investigation was launched however was later deserted and no additional motion was taken as a result of it was too early for cost to be thought of.
Burgi stated this was regular for African leaders on the time, they usually did it themselves. Providing substantial funding is one strategy to construct belief and help.
However in a altering world, that is unsustainable, and Burge says he is disillusioned. Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to not take a penny from Africa when he got here to energy in 2007, and Burge stated he stored his phrase.
Sarkozy has since been investigated for allegedly accepting marketing campaign funds from Libyan chief Moammar Gaddafi, which he denies. Burge, a Sarkozy loyalist, stated he didn’t imagine the accusations.
The 79-year-old former lawyer additionally mirrored on his very completely different position in one other election, that of Emmanuel Macron in 2017. An opportunity to develop into the favourite, conservative François Fillon.
Bourgi was as soon as near Fillon however has since grown distant: he accuses the previous prime minister of being impolite and petty. So he revealed to reporters the truth that he had given Fillon two very costly fits as items.
Fillon campaigned on integrity, however he by no means recovered. He was later convicted of providing a faux parliamentary place to his British spouse.
However Africa was Burge’s favourite.
He displays that whereas the corruption at France’s African core was unsuitable, the system of the time introduced stability and connections, usually private, between French and African leaders.
At this time, this example has disappeared.
France’s picture in its former colonies is deteriorating and its affect is waning. Witness the current retreat from former army bases in Mali and Niger.
“I be aware with unhappiness the disintegration of France’s relations with the African continent,” Bourget stated.
“However it’s too simple to place all of the blame on France…Africa has globalized. France has been unable to adapt to this new truth. And it retains making the identical mistake: vanity.
