Jacques Foccart

Jacques Foccart was Charles de Gaulle's and Georges Pompidou's adviser on African and Malagasy affairs and the chief architect of France's postcolonial system of influence in francophone Africa. Working from the Elysee, he built a web of personal ties to African leaders, intelligence contacts, and business links that critics later labeled 'Francafrique'. He is widely alleged to have had a hand in coups, the backing of friendly rulers, and covert operations across the continent, including the use of mercenaries; the full extent is disputed because much of his work was secret and he revealed little even in his memoirs. Supporters cast him as a pragmatic guardian of French interests, while critics see him as the organizer of a corrupt and coercive neocolonial network.