General's confidant

Yves Guéna heard Charles de Gaulle's voice on BBC radio on June 18, 1940, when the iconic French leader was recruiting men for the Free French Forces (FFF) to fight Germany's occupation of France.

“Must hope disappear? Is defeat final? No. Believe me, I who am speaking to you with full knowledge of the facts and who tells you that nothing is lost for France. The same means that overcame us can bring us victory one day. For France is not alone. She is not alone.

She is not alone. She has a vast empire behind her,'' de Gaulle's voice echoed throughout Western Europe, despite efforts by the French government to restrict the broadcast.

Guéna answered the call and sailed to London, the base of the FFF, not knowing that this would change the rest of his life and devote it to a cause much larger than anything he had ever dreamt of.

“I will never forget my first meeting with the General. It was July 6, 1940. I left shortly after I heard his famous speech on radio,'' Guéna, now 86, said in an exclusive interview with Weekend Review.

Sitting at a hotel in Abu Dhabi, Guéna recalled how he became a Gaullist who stood for independence, developed his love for the Arab world and helped rewrite France's Constitution.

The legacy

De Gaulle started acquiring prominence during the First World War, when he advocated military aviation as a means to win against trench warfare.

He became brigadier general during the Second World War and proved his might until France was defeated by the Axis forces, forcing many French troops into exile in the UK. With the help of the British, de Gaulle reached out to the French soldiers and eventually helped push the Germans out of France.

De Gaulle became prime minister in 1944, never forgetting those who fought along with him to liberate France.

Although he retired from politics two years later, he returned to power as president during the 1956 crisis when Algeria was fighting for independence from France.

This war, which lasted eight years, ended when de Gaulle surprised his country and the world with a change of heart and granted Algeria independence.

But before French policy would take that turn, which had an impact on its neighbours, colonies and much of the world, there was one step yet to be taken.

“The Constitution had to be changed. That's when the General set out to change the Fourth Constitution for the fifth time. This had been his vision since 1948.

I was summoned from Morocco to help rewrite the Fifth Constitution and [fulfil] de Gaulle's vision,'' Guéna said. The new Constitution would become France's pride and hope, helping it to acquire the status it has in the world.

Nineteen governments fell in the period of the Fourth Constitution. “But after the Fifth Constitution came into force, only one government has fallen in the past 50 years,'' Guéna said.

The Fifth Constitution and de Gaulle's newfound passion for independence would help liberate many countries and groups from colonial powers and influences — sometimes in an unpopular way, such as his call for Quebec's independence from Canada.

“De Gaulle called and asked me to be France's ambassador to Ivory Coast, which was designated in the Constitution as [a country] seeking independence. So I knew I would be going for this task,'' Guéna said. “I was the first person told that Ivory Coast would seek independence.''

After long talks between de Gaulle and Guéna, Ivory Coast was granted independence in 1960. “I will never forget what the General told me — ‘Well done Guéna. You acted very well during this period of transition'. I returned to France and on his request, entered the political realm,'' Guéna said.

One of Guéna's fondest memories of de Gaulle's strong values is from the Six Day War in 1967, when Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt. “I was a government member at the time when Israel's Abba Eban visited de Gaulle [on the eve of the Six-Day War],'' Guéna said.

He recalled de Gaulle walking up to the Israeli foreign minister and telling him firmly: “The one who starts a war will not have our support.''

When asked if he would like to see a handwritten letter from de Gaulle, Guéna sat up.

He gently reached for the sheet of paper and helped open it as if he were uncovering a treasure. He examined the blue ink of the note dated September 29, 1970, ran his thumb over the embossed stationery and putting his hand on his heart whispered: “Mon General, mon General.''

The letter, written by de Gaulle about eight months after he lost a referendum in April 1969, was sent to the ambassador of the United Arab Republic, Esmail Abdul Meguid, to condole the death of Egyptian president Jamal Abdul Nasser. It was donated by Meguid's family to the Charles de Gaulle Foundation.

Less than two months later, de Gaulle passed away.
De Gaulle's legacy and commitment to independence for the Arab world was honoured recently at a three-day conference in Abu Dhabi.

The meeting brought together Gaullist specialists from across the world, including Guéna.

One of the keynote speakers was France's former prime minister Dominique Villepin. “He knew the epics and dreams of Arab unity that trespassed barriers: physical barriers of desert, political divisions and threats of the powerful Ottoman and Persian neighbours,'' Villepin said.