Macron travels to Nairobi for summit pivoting French Africa strategy toward east and south of the continent

Emmanuel Macron will attend an Africa summit on Monday and Tuesday in Nairobi co-hosted by Kenyan President William Ruto, the first such summit France has held in an English-speaking African country and a deliberate pivot away from former Francophone partners where its influence has collapsed. The two-day gathering brings together heads of state, business leaders and executives from multilateral development banks, with investment deals in clean energy, artificial intelligence and education expected to be the central agenda items.

Since 2020 a succession of coups across the Sahel has installed military rulers who pushed out French troops and, in several cases, invited Russian mercenaries to fill the security vacuum. France handed over control of its last major military facility in Senegal last July after Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is expected to attend the Nairobi summit, said French bases were incompatible with his country's sovereignty.

"It does feel like a rebranding of how France is positioning itself on the continent," said Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst at the Control Risks consultancy based in Senegal. "It is moving away from some of its former colonial partners, security partners, toward countries where it has more of a cultural, a different footprint."

Macron took office in 2017 vowing to end "Françafrique," the opaque network of ties between Paris and its former colonies that had at times propped up autocratic regimes, and to broaden engagement across the continent. Alain Antil, head of the Sub-Saharan Africa programme at the French Institute for International Relations, said the pivot has involved efforts to address historical tensions with Rwanda and Algeria and to engage African civil society and youth leaders directly.

Trade has been the more visible lever. French imports from Africa rose by a quarter between 2021 and 2024, according to International Trade Centre data, and in 2024 France signed a 300 million euro agreement with Nigeria to support critical infrastructure, health care, transportation and renewable energy. Macron also signed a defense pact with Kenya last October covering intelligence sharing, maritime security and peacekeeping.

The diplomatic pivot has not insulated Paris from competition. Ruto's government cancelled a $1.5 billion highway expansion deal with a Vinci SA-led French consortium last year and awarded it to Chinese firms, after Kenyan authorities concluded the original contract exposed them to too much risk. China and Gulf states have used deep pockets and longstanding relationships to deepen their footprint across the continent as France has retreated.

Ruto, the co-host, plans to use the summit to advance talks on making the global financial architecture fairer for heavily indebted African countries; France has pledged to back his campaign. With a year left in office, Macron will also visit Egypt and Ethiopia during the trip, in what an aide at the Elysee Palace described as a "renewed partnership" with the continent.