Jacques Foccart

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Jacques Foccart (French pronunciation: [ʒak fɔkaʁ]; 31 August 1913 – 19 March 1997) was a French businessman and politician, best known as a chief adviser to French presidents on African colonial, and later post-colonial affairs. He also co-founded in 1959 with Charles Pasqua the Service d'Action Civique (SAC), a controversial organization in the service of Charles de Gaulle. In the 1960s and early 1970s, he exercised significant influence over French policy in Africa, earning the nickname Monsieur Afrique ("Mister Africa"). From 1960 to 1974, Foccart was Secretary-General for African and Malagasy affairs under Presidents Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou, and was pivotal in maintaining France's sphere of influence in sub-Saharan Africa (or Françafrique) by putting in place a series of cooperation accords with individual African countries and building a dense web of personal networks that underpinned the informal and family-like relationships between French and African leaders. After...

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