In a significant diplomatic shift, French President Emmanuel Macron chose an English-speaking nation — Kenya — to host the Africa Forward Summit on May 11-12, bringing together more than 30 African heads of state and government alongside executives from France’s largest corporations. The choice of Nairobi over the traditional French-speaking African venues sent a deliberate message: Paris is pursuing a broader, more inclusive relationship with the continent, even as its influence in parts of Francophone West Africa continues to erode.
A Deliberate Signal
For decades, France organised similar summits exclusively with its former colonies in West and Central Africa. The decision to stage Africa Forward in Kenya marked a symbolic departure. Macron himself acknowledged the change, telling delegates at Nairobi’s Taifa Hall that Africa and France were now equal partners with common objectives.
A lot of solutions are made in the U.S. or made in China, Macron said during a panel on technology and artificial intelligence. I think we have a common fight — which is to build our strategic autonomy for Europe and Africa. And if we build it together, we will be much stronger. The message was unmistakably aimed at positioning France as a preferred partner on the continent at a time when China has become Africa’s largest bilateral creditor.
Concrete Deals on the Table
The summit resulted in the announcement of 23 billion euros in investment pledges — 14 billion euros from French companies and 9 billion euros from African businesses — across sectors ranging from clean energy and infrastructure to artificial intelligence and port logistics.
French shipping giant CMA CGM unveiled a 700 million euro plan to modernise the container terminal at Kenya’s Port of Mombasa. TotalEnergies and Orange participated in high-level sessions on energy transition and digital infrastructure. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and a Nigerian industrialist, added his presence to the proceedings, underscoring that the summit was designed to attract African capital as well as French expertise.
Kenyan President William Ruto framed Kenya as a gateway to the African Continental Free Trade Area, telling investors the country offered a stable business environment in a region otherwise marked by political volatility. Kenya also used the summit to push its agenda on the international financial architecture, arguing that current global financial systems were not functioning, not representative, and not fair for heavily indebted African economies.
France’s African Headwinds
Behind the optimistic announcements, the summit could not ignore France’s difficulties on the continent. Military coups since 2020 in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger brought officers to power who expelled French troops and invited in Russian private military contractors. Last July, France vacated its last major military base in Senegal after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye declared foreign military installations incompatible with Senegalese sovereignty.
Macron sought to frame the summit’s atmosphere as one of renewal rather than retreat. But the conspicuous absence of leaders like Faye underscored the limits of France’s diplomatic reset. France also confronts the fallout from a terminated 1.5 billion dollar highway expansion contract in Kenya, which Ruto’s government cancelled last year and awarded to Chinese firms.
Africa Sets Its Terms
What was different about Africa Forward 2026, observers noted, was the assertiveness of the African participants. Ruto did not travel to Nairobi as a supplicant. He arrived with a clear agenda: attract investment on African terms, push for reform of the global financial system, and demonstrate that Kenya is open for business with any willing partner — France, China, the United States, or anyone else.
For Macron, the summit offered a chance to demonstrate that France can remain relevant in an Africa that is increasingly choosing its own partners. Whether 23 billion euros in pledges translates into lasting relationships will depend on whether the new partnership rhetoric survives contact with the realities of African governance, debt sustainability, and the continent’s growing appetite for strategic autonomy.