French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a €23bn investment in Africa focused on energy transition, digital and AI, the maritime economy and agriculture during a two day summit in Kenya held over Monday and Tuesday (11-12 May). 

Macron sought to position France as an “ethical partner” for African countries during the ‘Advance Africa’ summit, which was jointly hosted with Kenyan counterpart William Ruto and attended by more than 30 African leaders. 

The cash is composed of €14bn in private and public funds from French entities, and €9bn from African investors, focused on energy transition, digital and AI, the maritime economy and agriculture.

The projects would create 250,000 direct jobs in France and Africa, Macron said on Monday. 

The French president’s message of ‘equal partnership’, which EU officials have put at the heart of their own diplomatic outreach to African countries, was also taken up by Kenyan officials. 

‘Africa is not coming to Europe, it is a case of Europe coming to Africa on an equal basis,’ Abraham Korir Sing’Oei, permanent secretary at Kenya’s foreign ministry, told reporters. 

Leaders also ratified a new defence cooperation agreement between Kenya and France that will allow French military personnel to operate in the country, alongside existing British and American forces. 

Defence pact – with immunity

Kenya signed a similar deal with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in April, but opposition politicians in Nairobi have complained that the immunity provisions within the France-Kenya agreement could shield foreign soldiers from local prosecution. 

“By allowing foreign troops to avoid local jurisdiction for crimes committed against civilians, the government is prioritising international relations over the safety of citizens,” said Boniface Mwangi, a prominent civil society leader, adding that the arrangement violates the constitution’s provisions on the supremacy of Kenyan law. 

The defence pact will expand France’s military footprint in Africa having been forced to withdraw its soldiers from three countries in West Africa’s Sahel region between 2022 and 2025 where they were leading a mission tackling Islamic insurgents, at the behest of military governments in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. 

Anglophone pivot 

The summit marks a pivot for France towards Anglophone Africa, where it has traditionally had a limited diplomatic presence. 

But that didn’t stop accusations of ‘neo-colonialism’ against France in some quarters.

Kenya was a British colony until securing independence in 1963. 

For his part, Kenya’s president Ruto has sought to position himself as an important geopolitical ally for Europe, the United States and China. He has also signed bilateral defence and health agreements with the US. 

“Africa wants investment and equal partnership, not aid,” said Ruto. On Tuesday, meanwhile, he called for European support to reform the Bretton Woods institutions – the IMF and World Bank – which dominate a financial architecture that, he argued, has imposed unfairly high borrowing costs on African countries. 

UN expansion 

Ruto also reiterated demands for Africa to have two permanent seats on the UN security council during a joint session with Macron and UN secretary general Antonio Guterres.