France will test whether a rebranded partnership can restore influence in Africa, as Macron seeks deals amid competition from Russia, China and Gulf investors.<\/p>\n
After France lost influence in its former West African colonies, it seeks to expand its contacts in another part of the continent during the Africa Forward summit, to be held next week in Nairobi \u2013 the first of its kind in an English-speaking country on the continent.<\/p>\n
With a growing sense that times are changing the rules of the game, French President Emmanuel Macron, who will remain in office for about another year, intends to demonstrate an \u201cupdated partnership\u201d with Africa, according to the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace.<\/p>\n
Monday and Tuesday of the summit will bring together heads of state, business leaders, and leaders of many multilateral development banks after a string of French setbacks in its former colonial countries where it previously wielded influence.<\/p>\n
Over the past years a series of coups in the Sahel have led to the expulsion of French forces and the invitation of Russian mercenaries.<\/p>\n
France also handed control of the last major military base in Senegal last July after Senegal\u2019s President Bassir Diomaye Faye said that French bases do not meet the country\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n
It feels like a rebranding of how France positions itself on the continent.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Beverly Ochieng<\/p>\n
France is moving away from some of its former colonial partners, security partners, toward countries where it has a more noticeable cultural influence, a different footprint.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Beverly Ochieng<\/p>\n
The Success of the French Pivot \u2013 An Open Question<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Macron came to office in 2017 with a pledge to put an end to \u201cFran\u00e7afrique\u201d \u2013 the murky ties between France and its former colonies, which sometimes supported authoritarian regimes \u2013 and to broaden engagement across the continent.<\/p>\n
The pivot envisions addressing historical tensions with countries such as Rwanda and Algeria, while more actively engaging African civil society and youth leaders, said Alain Antil, head of the Sub-Saharan Africa program at the French Institute of International Relations.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Paris aims to expand trade links: imports from Africa rose by about a quarter between 2021 and 2024, according to data from the International Trade Centre.<\/p>\n
In 2024, France and Nigeria signed a \u20ac300 million investment agreement to support key infrastructure, health, transport, and renewable energy in Africa\u2019s most populous country.<\/p>\n
It is expected that deals in clean energy, artificial intelligence, and education will form the core of Macron\u2019s trip to Africa during the summit, and he also plans to visit Egypt and Ethiopia.<\/p>\n
The Macron administration also aims to strengthen defense cooperation with non-traditional partners, notably by signing a defense agreement with Kenya last October to enhance intelligence sharing, maritime security, and peacekeeping initiatives.<\/p>\n
However, France has encountered serious difficulties in countries where Chinese and Gulf investors wield significant financial influence and long-standing ties.<\/p>\n
The Kenyan president William Ruto\u2019s government tore up last year a deal with a Vinci SA-led consortium to develop a $1.5 billion highway and handed it to Chinese companies after Kenyan authorities said the contract exposed the country to excessively high risks.<\/p>\n
Ruto, who will coordinate the summit as a co-organizer, intends to focus on pushing negotiations toward forming a fairer global financial system for African countries with large debt burdens. France has affirmed its support for his campaign.<\/p>\n
This summit is framed as a test of how effectively France\u2019s new course can restore its influence in the region and what role Paris is prepared to play in the continent\u2019s future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France will test whether a rebranded partnership can restore influence in Africa, as Macron seeks deals amid competition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[32620,242,36854,36855,247,36853,32625,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-62379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-emmanuel-macron","8":"tag-africa-forward","9":"tag-emmanuel-macron","10":"tag-france-africa-summit","11":"tag-french-influence","12":"tag-macron","13":"tag-macron-france-africa-summit-nairobi-summit-french-influence-africa-forward","14":"tag-nairobi-summit","15":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116538959768470966","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}