French President Emmanuel Macron touched down in Nairobi on Sunday, May 10, for a two-day Africa Forward Summit co-hosted with Kenya — a diplomatic trip that carries the weight of an entire reframing of France’s relationship with Africa.
The summit, which formally opens Monday and runs through Tuesday at the Kenya International Conference Centre, has drawn over 30 African heads of state, more than 500 business leaders, and a significant youth delegation. The stated aim: to shift France’s engagement with the continent from the old model of Francafrique — critics’ shorthand for a cosy, often criticised network of French influence and preferential commercial ties — toward what Macron calls “co-building.”
“We are here to build with you, not to decide for you,” the French president said in a pre-visit statement. It is a phrase his advisors have been repeating across African capitals for the past 18 months, trying to signal a break from a past that has made France a frequent target of anti-colonial anger across West Africa.
Kenya’s President William Ruto has been an enthusiastic partner in hosting. Kenya and France signed eleven bilateral agreements on Sunday covering renewable energy, digital infrastructure, technology transfer, and education. Among the most notable: a proposed Kenyan semiconductor research hub backed by French firms, and a data corridor linking East Africa to European networks via France. Macron also indicated France would double the number of scholarships it awards annually to Kenyan and East African students.
The summit’s format is distinctive. Unlike traditional Franco-African summits that were largely about heads of state meeting behind closed doors, the Nairobi programme includes a youth entrepreneurship forum, a cultural showcase featuring African artists, and an open session where civil society representatives can engage with French and African policymakers.
Geopolitical backdrop
The summit is taking place as Africa is reshaped by competing global interests. China remains the continent’s largest bilateral creditor, though Belt and Road lending has slowed. Russia’s Africa Corps has expanded its military footprint in Mali, the Central African Republic, and Sudan, filling the space left by France’s withdrawal from the Sahel. Turkey, the Gulf states, and the United States are all deepening their African engagement.
France’s wager is that its combination of cultural soft power, development finance, universities, and technology partnerships gives it a distinctive offering — if it can shake off the paternalistic reputation that has made it a convenient target for pan-Africanist politicians. The Africa Forward Summit is the biggest test of that strategy yet.
For Kenya, the summit is also a geopolitical statement: Nairobi is positioning itself as a hub where global powers meet Africa on African terms, not the other way around.