Former French president Jacques Chirac puts aside his legal troubles and returns to the public eye this week to launch his foundation for sustainable development and cultural diversity.
Surrounded by friends like the former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Yunus and former Senegalese president Abdou Diouf — all members of the foundation’s honorary committee — Chirac inaugurates the foundation in Paris today.
The 75-year-old former president will unveil a first batch of development projects for Africa and plans to travel abroad, including a trip to China that was delayed after he underwent a pacemaker operation in April.
“In the face of major world challenges, I still want to fight,” Chirac said in an interview last week with the daily Le Figaro, his first since leaving office last year. “And the foundation is the tool for this. I want to stir and awaken consciences.”
The high-profile event marks a rare public appearance by Chirac, who has been battling corruption allegations since he lost his presidential immunity and became a private citizen again after 12 years in office.
After handing over to French President Nicolas Sarkozy in May last year, Chirac retired to a quiet life with his wife Bernadette in a Paris Left Bank apartment. But in November, he became the first former French head of state to be placed under formal investigation — a step toward full criminal charges.
Chirac is suspected of misappropriating city funds for political ends when he was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
The foundation was announced last year when Chirac stepped down and pledged to continue serving “in another capacity”. It was legally established in March.
Half a dozen projects have been launched to promote access to water and medicines in west Africa, to combat deforestation in the Congo Basin and to save dying languages in Polynesia, said Michel Camdessus, a former director of the IMF who helped set up the foundation.
The projects reflect Chirac’s commitment to sustainable development, the environment and the “dialogue of cultures” — areas that were close to his heart while president, Camdessus said.
“He is going to be traveling a lot, talking a lot and searching for synergies with other foundations and players,” Camdessus said. “He will be tapping into his network of contacts throughout the world.”
In west Africa, the foundation will train members of local communities in water management as part of a multibillion-dollar program of the African Development Bank to promote access to clean water.
The foundation is also launching the Sorosoro program to protect dying languages such as Araki, now spoken by only eight people on the Polynesian island of Vanuatu.
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