ELF, a hand in Africa

From the moment it was created in 1967, Elf considered itself above the law. A kind of state annex, this public company depended directly on the Elysée Palace to th detriment of its legal governors. For the Gaulist government, the stakes were huge: to find and operate oil deposits in black Africa to compensate for the loss of Algeria (which covered a quarter of French consumption before independence. This documentary analyses the role of Elf in the history of 'French style' neocolonialism, in particular in Gabon, the Congo and Angola. The shows how, after decolonisation, a gigantic machine to perpetrate domination was designed, nurtured and protected by the State. Structured around interviews with the main actors, political decision makers, ambassadors, 'special advisors', secret service officials and 'honourable correspondents', this enquiry describes the growth and functioning of the system, from de Gaulle to Francois Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac: its networks of information and influence, its policy of protecting established regimes, its politics of secrecy, economic control, and struggle with foreign companies, its secret financial circuits. Through this major enquiry, ARTE makes a contribution to breaking the law of silence which ruled the Elf 'system' until the end of the 90's.