2023-07-31 10:08:59
Criticized or feared, admired and applauded… From the continent where they do business, to the land of Cedars, the Lebanese of Africa know how to make people talk regarding them . Their success arouses many fantasies. The collective imagination describes them as businessmen who started from nothing, to end up at the head of empires. Today, the continent has at least thirty families of Lebanese origin at the head of large groups. Among them are the Ezzedine, Khalil, Chagoury, Fakhoury, Fakhry, Filfili, Haidouss, Faddoul, Dalloul, El Houry…
From trade to industry, via finance or real estate, their economic presence weighs heavily on the African chessboard, shaping local realities and contributing to the development of the nations that have welcomed them.
Permanent establishment The saga of the “Phoenician traders” began towards the end of the 19th century. Legend has it that the first Lebanese to arrive in Africa took the wrong destination. As the expert in African politics of Lebanese origin, Albert Bourgi, reminds us in his bookLebanese in Africa, or from Africa
Massinissa, king of the first unified Berber state Population movements accelerated following the First World War and during the independence
from Eastern countries. “People were fleeing the famine and oppression of the Ottoman Empire in a Middle East in full restructuring”, explains Faysal El-Khalil, the businessman originally from Hasbaya (hinterland of southern Lebanon), at the head of the successful Seven-up Bottling Company.
Today, it is his son, Sari El Khalil, who is gradually taking over the reins of the flourishing business. Because, among the Lebanese, business is above all a matter of transmission and inheritance. For most of the financial conglomerates and companies belonging to the natives of the country of the Cedars, the succession is assured. The presence of the Lebanese on the continent seems to have a bright future.
bad press
However, these dazzling and lasting successes are disturbing. The sulphurous reputation that surrounds them gives their successes a tenacious scent of controversy. Since colonial times, voices have been raised to express their concern regarding this phenomenon. In 1935, Jean Paillard, a member of the Superior Council of the colonies, even called for the interruption of what he described as the “Lebanese invasion”. At the end of the 1960s, Maurice Voisin, editor-in-chief of Les Échos d’Afrique in Dakar, launched a defamatory campaign once morest the Lebanese communities.
In Canaa, South Lebanon, “those who have succeeded in Africa come back with a lot of money”
In Liberia, shops belonging to the Lebanese diaspora have been repeatedly looted. In Ghana, the Lebanese have been accused of black market and currency trafficking. In Sierra Leone, Gabon or the DRC, financial scandals made the headlines. In July 2023, a case on the fraudulent acquisition of Ivorian nationality and the trafficking of passports caused a lot of ink to flow.
Philanthropic commitment Despite the controversies, the Lebanese have made an undeniable contribution to Africa. They have played a key role in the economic development of remote regions, boosting communication networks and promoting the transition
from subsistence economies to market economies. For example, according to data from the Franco-Lebanese Chamber of Commerce in 2018, in Liberia, “50% of the country’s economy was generated by Lebanese”; in Ghana the contribution of the Lebanese is “at least 25% of the local economy” and represents 50% of investments. In 2016, Lebanese businesses contributed at least 15% of Côte d’Ivoire’s tax revenue and 8% of GDP. In Nigeria, the Lebanese diaspora has been “pioneer in the creation of IT and high-tech companies”, indicates the same source. And to add, “in Sierra Leone, Gabon, Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso, the Lebanese have played a leading role in the development of infrastructure”.
They also highlight their philanthropic commitment, with the construction of schools, dispensaries, hospitals, mosques and churches in the four corners of the continent. In difficult times, they showed their solidarity, as demonstrated in particular by the financial support given to the reintegration of Senegalese expelled from Congo-Brazzaville in 1967, from Nigeria in 1983 and from Mauritania in 1989. Not to mention the NGOs founded by Lebanese, such as the Atef Omais Foundation (Fatom), El Khalil (of the Eurofin group), or Marcos hospitals.
Differences between African Lebanese and their adopted country are gradually diminishing. The new generations, sharing a common destiny with the indigenous populations, as evidenced by the growing number of mixed marriages, and the gradual erasure of the notion of “Lebanese neighborhood” in African cities. “My family has been established in Africa for four generations. We are African Lebanese. Our identity is multiple and varied, and we are proud of our Africanness,” said a “Libadjan” (Lebanese from Abidjan), who requested anonymity because of a duty of reserve linked to his position. Before continuing: “I myself speak several African dialects, including Wolof, Swahili, Fula… Africa runs through my veins and no one can ever do anything regarding it”. The three episodes of series
African Lebanese: when the new generation enters the scene This series was written and imagined before the affair of fraudulent acquisitions of nationality and passport trafficking which involves a dozen Ivorians of Lebanese origin broke out in
Côteof ivory.
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