« To the well-born souls, value does not wait for the number of years », Businessman, magnanimous, meticulous, humanist with a high sense of investment espoused the Central African Republic as his second homeland. CEO of the NIEL Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors of TELECEL Centrafrique. Your Journal in search of information perfection will get in touch with this high open personality who will graciously respond to our various concerns.
Good morning, Mr. Foucher. There has been much talk about you in Africa and especially in the Central African Republic in recent years.
We wanted to know more, so much your personality intrigues, and sometimes disturbs.
Too many things are said about you without being checked. We wished to collect from the principal interested his own version, which we can face the test of facts.
LF: Good morning. I am sensitive to your approach and I understand your questions. I am, through my activities, brought to the front of the scene. We also know that businessmen often arouse many fantasies, especially when they operate in Africa. It is therefore logical to answer questions from the press. I accepted this interview because you assured me of your will to overcome the clichés and the lies that I sometimes see circulating on the internet or in some blogs. Are these bloggers guided by unscrupulous individuals? Sometimes I get the impression.
We will come back to this later. We interviewed many personalities who know you or have crossed your path. All are unanimous: you are a great connoisseur of Africa and your love and interest in this continent are not new. We have learned that you have been very close to many people on the continent, such as the former Senegalese president, Abdou Diouf, or the current president of Angola, Eduardo Dos Santos. But we also talk about your family’s ties with that of the former French president, François Mitterrand, or your close contacts with other people from different backgrounds in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. All this brings us to a question: Who are you?
LF: (smile) I will allow myself to answer you by telling you what I am not. Africa has been passionate about me for over 35 years. For me, it is first of all a continent of natural and human beauties. I have found in Africa a number of values which our Western civilization has forgotten for ages. All that I have done in Africa, I have always done with men and women who loved their countries, and made me also loved them.
This link has been woven through experiences, successes and failures, but together, with these partners become friends and close friends.
So much so that today there are few African countries that are inaccessible to me. I have actually come across the personalities you mention. For some of them, they have the honor to trust me. But I have never abused this situation. I take care of my affairs in the hope that they have proposed, and bring to the countries where we are established economic activity beneficial to all. I do not have a hidden agenda. My societies are not pharmacies destined to serve any particular interest or clan. I aspire to be judged on my investments, on their results, and on what they bring to the community.
We understand that you are trying to differentiate yourself from this « Françafrique » so much decried today for its evil and its interference on the continent. Yet we also talk about your links with the former French interior minister, Claude Gueant, himself marked by this legacy that you criticize.
LF: I do not have much to say about this inheritance because, frankly, this expression, the « Françafrique », invented by the late President Houphouët-Boigny, who saw in it the quality and the unfailing connection between France and its Former colonies, does not belong to me and I have never been either the pedlar or the promoter. That said, La Françafrique is not a sin. It is also an economic reality. There are, between France and Africa, privileged business ties. The question is whether, in this context, we can be a serious entrepreneur, a good partner of governments, and a driver of economic growth. If so, then I accept this label. Francafrica needs to be rid of politics and rumors that go with it.
Mr. Guéant is a politician and a lover of Africa. I know little about him, but what I know about this man, many people should be inspired by it, it probably would grow.
We wanted to know more, so much your personality intrigues, and sometimes disturbs.
Too many things are said about you without being checked. We wished to collect from the principal interested his own version, which we can face the test of facts.
LF: Good morning. I am sensitive to your approach and I understand your questions. I am, through my activities, brought to the front of the scene. We also know that businessmen often arouse many fantasies, especially when they operate in Africa. It is therefore logical to answer questions from the press. I accepted this interview because you assured me of your will to overcome the clichés and the lies that I sometimes see circulating on the internet or in some blogs. Are these bloggers guided by unscrupulous individuals? Sometimes I get the impression.
We will come back to this later. We interviewed many personalities who know you or have crossed your path. All are unanimous: you are a great connoisseur of Africa and your love and interest in this continent are not new. We have learned that you have been very close to many people on the continent, such as the former Senegalese president, Abdou Diouf, or the current president of Angola, Eduardo Dos Santos. But we also talk about your family’s ties with that of the former French president, François Mitterrand, or your close contacts with other people from different backgrounds in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. All this brings us to a question: Who are you?
LF: (smile) I will allow myself to answer you by telling you what I am not. Africa has been passionate about me for over 35 years. For me, it is first of all a continent of natural and human beauties. I have found in Africa a number of values which our Western civilization has forgotten for ages. All that I have done in Africa, I have always done with men and women who loved their countries, and made me also loved them.
This link has been woven through experiences, successes and failures, but together, with these partners become friends and close friends.
So much so that today there are few African countries that are inaccessible to me. I have actually come across the personalities you mention. For some of them, they have the honor to trust me. But I have never abused this situation. I take care of my affairs in the hope that they have proposed, and bring to the countries where we are established economic activity beneficial to all. I do not have a hidden agenda. My societies are not pharmacies destined to serve any particular interest or clan. I aspire to be judged on my investments, on their results, and on what they bring to the community.
We understand that you are trying to differentiate yourself from this « Françafrique » so much decried today for its evil and its interference on the continent. Yet we also talk about your links with the former French interior minister, Claude Gueant, himself marked by this legacy that you criticize.
LF: I do not have much to say about this inheritance because, frankly, this expression, the « Françafrique », invented by the late President Houphouët-Boigny, who saw in it the quality and the unfailing connection between France and its Former colonies, does not belong to me and I have never been either the pedlar or the promoter. That said, La Françafrique is not a sin. It is also an economic reality. There are, between France and Africa, privileged business ties. The question is whether, in this context, we can be a serious entrepreneur, a good partner of governments, and a driver of economic growth. If so, then I accept this label. Francafrica needs to be rid of politics and rumors that go with it.
Mr. Guéant is a politician and a lover of Africa. I know little about him, but what I know about this man, many people should be inspired by it, it probably would grow.
