In Focus | Africa, France
Alexandre Benalla and Kamal Benali fall short of their wheeler-dealer heroes of yore
The businessman-adventurer has long been one of the main characters of the "Françafrique" era. André Guelfi, Pierre Falcone and Vincent Miclet helped to fashion the myth of the deal-maker who could be found in Africa's presidential palaces and the bars of Paris's luxury hotels, setting up multi-million-dollar deals with just a few phone calls.