Arrived in Abidjan by private flight on December 13, accompanied by his son, Jean, and the son from the union between Carla Bruni and the philosopher Raphaël Enthoven, Nicolas Sarkozy is much more than a guest among others came to attend the investiture of Alassane Ouattara, scheduled for the next day. For the Ivorian head of state, he acts as a real guarantee after a candidacy and a presidential election contested by the Ivorian opposition, which have also raised skepticism from France.
During his meeting with his counterpart at the beginning of September in Paris, Emmanuel Macron reiterated the wish to see the emergence of a new political generation in Côte d’Ivoire after Alassane Ouattara’s decision to run for a third term. From November 1, the day after the presidential election, the same Emmanuel Macron was the first official to exert pressure in order to start rapid talks between the Ivorian authorities and their opponents gathered in a National Transitional Council (CNT), today dissolved. Even if the two men have known each other for a long time – Nicolas Sarkozy married Alassane Ouattara to Dominique Folloroux, on August 24, 1991, at the town hall of the XVIth arrondissement of Paris after being introduced by Martin Bouygues – the ex-tenant of the Elysée allows France to be represented at a high level while counterbalancing, at the international level, the negative perceptions linked to the third term.
Networks
This trip, three days after the end of his trial for “corruption and influence peddling” in the Bettencourt affair, at the same time allows Nicolas Sarkozy to cultivate his African networks. Since his withdrawal from political life, the latter has been very active on this continent. In addition to conferences, he defends above all the interests of Accor, of which he has been the administrator since February 2017. The hotel group asked him to develop its projects in close association with Katara Hospitality, a Qatari fund dedicated to Africa and endowed with over $ 1 billion. Other entities are also resting their African business on the shoulders of Nicolas Sarkozy. This is the case with Chargeurs led by Michaël Friborg.
In April 2019, the executive staff of this group accompanied the former head of state to Dakar for the inauguration of Macky Sall’s second term. A month later, on May 16, Nicolas Sarkozy dined at the restaurant of the Peninsula Hotel in Paris with Paul Kagamé, who had participated in the VivaTechnology (Vivatech) trade fair. In February 2010, he was the first French official to go to Kigali since the 1994 genocide. In the meantime, he had mediated the conflict between Alpha Condé and Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz, boss of Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR) in its dispute over its contract to operate Mount Simandou. A former – unofficial – adviser in charge of Africa, Robert Bourgi also continues to open his address book to him by introducing him to various high-ranking personalities. At the start of 2020, Nicolas Sarkozy thus got to know the new Bissau-Guinean president Umaro Sissoco Embalo, close to French interests, even though the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had not yet recognized the victory of the latter.