Macron’s Africa Forward Summit: France Pledges 7bn Investment in Kenya as Paris Seeks a Reset With the Continent

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Nairobi this week with a message that France wants to move beyond the colonial-era relationships that have defined its engagement with Africa for decades — and to prove it, he came bearing 7 billion in pledged investment across energy transition, digital infrastructure, maritime economy and agriculture. The Africa Forward Summit, co-hosted with President William Ruto, brought together more than 30 African heads of state, business leaders and the UN Secretary-General in what both sides described as a new chapter in their partnership.

The choice of Kenya — an English-speaking country with no colonial ties to France — was itself a statement. For years, Paris held summits with African leaders either in France or in Francophone African nations, reinforcing a linguistic and cultural framework that many younger African leaders regard as a relic. Kenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi welcomed the shift, telling the BBC that holding the summit outside the traditional Francophone sphere sent “a very, very big message that we should not be looking at engagements on the basis of official languages.” He said the move was an opportunity for Africa to “start speaking as one” rather than being categorized by colonial linguistic boundaries.

A Different Kind of Summit

Macron’s public appearances in Nairobi were carefully choreographed to signal a break from the paternalistic tone that has often characterised French engagement with Africa. Speaking at the University of Nairobi on Monday, the French president said Africa “no longer needs or wants to hear European leaders telling them what their countries need.” He described the continent as “succeeding” and stressed that the goal was “co-investment” and “equal footing partnerships” rather than development aid. He announced that the pledged funds would create approximately 250,000 jobs in both Africa and France, framing the relationship as genuinely reciprocal.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, also present at the summit, used the occasion to deliver a pointed critique of the global economic order, saying that “for too long, Africa’s resources have been extracted and the value captured elsewhere.” He called for greater local processing, manufacturing and industrialisation across the continent and noted that international lending systems and credit rating structures unfairly disadvantaged African economies. “This is not a continent waiting for solutions,” he told delegates. “This is a continent producing them.”

The summit was also notable for who was absent. Military leaders who seized power in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — all former French colonies — were not invited, and France’s troop presence in those countries has been dramatically reduced following a wave of anti-French sentiment and demands for withdrawal. Macron defended the drawdown, saying French forces left “not as a humiliation but as a logical response to a given situation” after coups made France’s continued presence unwelcome.

Shifting Alliances and Strategic Competition

The Africa Forward Summit takes place against a backdrop of intensifying geopolitical competition on the continent. China, Russia and Turkey have all significantly expanded their diplomatic, economic and security footprint in Africa in recent years, and France’s influence — particularly its military presence — has contracted noticeably since 2021. Analysts say Paris is acutely aware that soft power and commercial engagement are now its most viable tools for maintaining relevance.

Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst at Control Risks, said France was “repositioning and softening its presence and reputation” by leveraging recognisable commercial brands, cultural reach and its weight within the European Union. French retail chains, energy companies and financial institutions already have significant operations in Kenya, and officials in Nairobi are hoping the summit will unlock further investment in infrastructure, renewable energy and technology.

For Kenya specifically, the summit delivered early fruits in the form of a five-year renewable defence agreement covering intelligence sharing, maritime security in the Indian Ocean and disaster response — a reflection of Kenya’s growing strategic importance as a gateway to East Africa and a counter-piracy hub in the western Indian Ocean.

The summit also provided an awkward moment when Macron interrupted a speaker on stage to tell attendees that “there is a total lack of respect” from those holding side conversations. Social media users were quick to point out the irony of the French president lecturing an African audience about decorum at an event designed to signal a departure from colonial-era attitudes. However, others defended him, noting that such interruptions are common at large international gatherings.

For all the pledges and diplomatic choreography, the real test of France’s reset with Africa will be whether the money materialises and whether it changes the lived experience of ordinary Africans. Kenya’s young, tech-savvy and internationally connected population is particularly sceptical of grand pledges from foreign powers — and the history of France’s engagements in West Africa is littered with announcements that failed to translate into tangible development outcomes. Whether Macron’s 7bn represents a genuine inflection point or another well-documented summit with modest follow-through remains to be seen.