After losing influence in West Africa, France seeks a regional reset at Kenya summit
France is seeking new economic and security ties as anti-French sentiment grows across the Sahel, officials and analysts said.
- Starting Monday, Nairobi will host the two-day Africa Forward Summit: Africa-France Partnerships for Innovation and Growth, bringing together French President Emmanuel Macron and 30 African heads of state.
- France's strategic pivot follows repeated setbacks across Francophone West Africa, where military governments in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger expelled French troops amid intensifying anti-French sentiment.
- Seeking to re-establish influence, Paris deepened ties with Anglophone countries, signing a five-year defense pact with Kenya in 2025 and a €300 million infrastructure agreement with Nigeria in 2024.
- Progressive groups organized the Pan-Africanism Summit Against Imperialism in Nairobi to challenge the official agenda, rejecting what they term a "reset" strategy and calling for dismantling neo-colonial monetary structures.
- While Macron's government advocates for "equal partnership" and "effective multilateralism," critics argue the strategy aims to maintain geopolitical relevance amid growing engagement from China, Russia, and Turkey.
23 Articles
23 Articles
Africa summit in Kenya: France seeks new partners
Following a withdrawal from the Sahel region, France is seeking to expand its geostrategic influence in Africa by seeking allies. The first Africa Summit, to be held May 11–12 in Kenya, is intended to mark a fresh start.
On the occasion of the Africa Forward summit held in Nairobi, Kenya, the Journal de l’Afrique focuses on the major economic issues between France and the African continent. Investments, development financing, economic sovereignty, youth, innovation: this summit aims to reposition Franco-African relations around business and economic partnerships in a global context of [...]
In its issue issued tomorrow, the Seventh Day publishes important details of many events taking place in the internal and external arenas, most notably: you will see us only together -- the fate of one Arab. Source: Seventh Day, 7th Day: a strategic partnership between Egypt and France.
Egypt: La Francophonie and the Situation in the Middle East at the Centre of Emmanuel Macron's Visit
The French president inaugurated Saturday, May 9, the new campus of the University of La Francophonie Senghor in Borg el-Arab, in the suburbs of the great Mediterranean port, with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sissi. Emmanuel Macron and Fattah al-Sissi are on the same wavelength on the situation in the Middle East.
The president arrived in Egypt on Saturday for a five-day tour of the continent. He inaugurated the new campus of the University of La Francophonie Senghor in Borg el-Arab.
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