Correspondent in western Africa of the French weekly The Express, Christine Holzbauer persisted and signed that Karim Wade, son of the Senegalese president, called Robert Bourgi, on June 27th, and asked him to intercede with the Elysee for an intervention of the French army. But the funniest is that the journalist went as far as supplying the exact hour of the phone call, 0:40 am mn exactly. This information can come only from Bourgi. Therefore, it is there where we see the vaudeville side of the affair. How can a sovereign State ask another one, even though the former colonizing power, to bring in its army, in order to assure at its place its common mission of maintenance of law and order? Even if Karim Wade was born in Paris and passes most of his time there despite of his ministerial loads, he must be able to make allowances between Senegal and France.
Why this need to pass by an individual who has no official cap in France to make a message which raises from the official secret or defense secret? What prevents Senegalese authorities from addressing directly their French counterparts? Why did the intermediary feel the necessity of organizing a leak in the press, after being requested? For an evident reason of advertising: Robert Bourgi is a private lobbyist paid by the African decision-makers who look for favours or services in Paris. The only surprising fact is that he was perceived up to here as being the friend and a kind of godfather-protector of Karim Wade. It is him who has led the son of the president to the good graces of Claude Guéant, believer among the believers of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who becomes interior minister after having occupied the strategic position of General Secretary of the Elysee. Still he "arranged" the Parisian meetings of Karim Wade, from the presidential palace up to the offices of ministries. Always he who was the deus ex machina of the intercession of Sarkozy so that Karim Wade shakes hands with Barack Obama in Deauville.
Why does he give then weapons today to a journalist to revile his "protected"? It is in the style of Robert Bourgi to act so. Some weeks ago, he revealed the contents of his conversations with Idrissa Seck in a Parisian coffee house which were published in the columns of dakar newspapers. Did he do that by loyalty to the Wade family? Nothing is less safe and nobody can convince Idrissa Seck that Bourgi is not his friend in view of the confidences which he makes him and wages which he gives him. What plays Robert? To highlight his influence and his posture of indispensable man, sought from everywhere.