François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande

Conakry also played host to a series of more democratically inclined old friends including Tony Blair and two former French presidents: François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy who had reportedly brokered the truce between Condé's government and the Israel-based minerals magnate Beny Steinmetz after a protracted battle over the unexplored iron ore reserves in Guinea's remote southeast (AC Vol 60 No 5 A surprise reunion)...

In September 2013 France's President François Hollande and President Armando Guebuza presided over a ceremony in the port of Cherbourg to celebrate the Mozambican order of interceptor boats and trawlers which rescued 400 jobs with Privinvest subsidiary Constructions mécaniques de Normandie (CMN)...

Le Drian who was defence minister under ex-President François Hollande had €24 million in his pocket for President Faustin-Archange Touadéra's government for aid projects budget support and weapons...

When François Hollande the Parti Socialiste candidate swept Sarkozy from power in 2012 Farnaud was appointed Thales's chief in Africa...

The defence theme continues the policy established by Macron's predecessor François Hollande when he despatched French troops to Mali in 2013...

He spent six months in Nigeria early in his civil service career and later as François Hollande's economy adviser and then minister he inevitably had dealings with Africa though in contrast to many French politicians he has avoided claiming to have a special empathy with the continent...

Defence Minister and de facto Monsieur Afrique for President François Hollande Jean-Yves Le Drian was a key leader of Socialist Party support for Macron's presidential candidacy...

Macron will be carrying on former President François Hollande's policy of making security in Mali a European Union responsibility instead of a purely French one...

Such issues still count in North Africa's cold war; during French election week Morocco's King Mohammed VI paid one of his regular 'private visits' to Paris where he was very publicly filmed dining with the outgoing President François Hollande and together visiting an exhibition...

Condé found more international acclaim in Paris where he was among the last foreign leaders to visit outgoing French President François Hollande in an elaborate two-day programme ending on 12 April...

During an official visit to Paris last month President François Hollande received Guelleh at the Elysée albeit for the first time in five years...

Hydroquest is also French and CEO Jean-François Simon accompanied French President François Hollande on official visits to Angola in 2015 and 2016...