Shadowy `Mr. Africa' Reveals His Mastermind Role For France

PARIS - He was known as "Mr. Africa," discreetly orchestrating the rise and fall of leaders in new nations where French dominance outlasted colonialism.

Now, dispelling his secretiveness at age 81, Jacques Foccart has published a strikingly detailed account of how he almost single-handedly masterminded French policy in Africa for President Charles de Gaulle between 1959 and 1969.

Among the revelations in "Foccart Speaks" are:

-- France viewed the United States as a worrisome rival in Africa. Foccart describes how French paratroopers crushed a 1964 coup in Gabon that had placed in power a man enjoying the "flagrant" backing of the U.S. ambassador.

-- The French secret service played a role in the 1960 assassination of Felix Moumie, an opposition leader from Cameroon.

-- Foccart went along with the coup that put Jean-Bedel Bokassa in power in the Central African Republic in 1966. He recalls how Bokassa, who later crowned himself emperor before being ousted and accused of cannibalism, was "a very pro-French soldier" who called de Gaulle "papa."

The book, based on extensive interviews given by Foccart to journalist Philippe Gaillard, was co-published by Jeune Afrique, the foremost newsweekly serving French-speaking Africa.

Presenting excerpts from the book in February, Jeune Afrique depicted Foccart as an almost mythical character viewed with awe and fear by many Africans in the 1960s.

In that era, the magazine said, he was perceived as "a Machiavelli whom one imagined in his presidential-palace office equipped with cameras, tape recorders and wiretapping gear, arranging coups and counter-coups from long distance."

Of all de Gaulle's advisers, Foccart was perhaps the closest, conferring with him virtually every day and exercising near-total control over Africa policy with help from a network of informants spread throughout France's former colonies.

Foccart played a key role in the French decision to cut off aid and investment in newly independent Guinea because its leader, Ahmed Sekou Toure, was considered uncooperative. "With Sekou, no discussion was possible," Foccart says.

One of the beneficiaries of Foccart's influence was Leon Mba, restored as president of Gabon after being ousted in a 1964 coup. Foccart then helped handpick Mba's successor, an inexperienced aide whose suitability was tested at a meeting with de Gaulle and a dinner with Foccart.

That aide, Omar Bongo, became president in 1967 and remains president today, benefiting from French aid despite opposition denunciations of him as a dictator.

Mba, before his death in 1967, was hospitalized in Paris. Foccart was asked who ran Gabon during that period.

"Without question, it was Mba," Foccart replied. "But I was available, and he consulted me a lot."

Foccart also was asked about the French role in the 1960 assassination of Moumie, the Cameroon dissident.

"The archives will one day answer your questions," Foccart replied.

In a subsequent interview in Jeune Afrique, Foccart said he did not think the killing was a mistake.

Many aspects of French policy and attitudes toward Africa are much the same today as they were in the '60s, including French suspicions about U.S. influence.

French executives boycotted an economic conference in Gabon this week in which the United States had a prominent role. France's interior minister, Charles Pasqua, made a swing through West Africa last weekend to "reassure our African friends" of steady French support in the Gaullist tradition.