Stripped of influence in several of its former West African colonies, France is turning its focus elsewhere on the continent as it prepares to deepen ties at an Africa summit next week in Nairobi, its first in an English-speaking country.
With just a year left in office, French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to present what an aide at the Elysee Palace described as a “renewed partnership” with Africa.
The summit on Monday and Tuesday will bring together heads of state, business leaders and executives from multilateral development banks. It comes after a string of setbacks for France in parts of Africa where it has long held sway.
Since 2020, a wave of coups across the Sahel has installed military rulers who have pushed out French troops and, in several cases, invited Russian mercenaries to fill the security vacuum.
France also 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 Kenya summit, said French bases were incompatible with the 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 came to power in 2017 vowing to end “Françafrique,” the opaque network of ties between France and its former colonies that at times saw Paris back autocratic regimes, and to broaden engagement across the continent.
The pivot has involved attempts to address historical tensions with countries such as Rwanda and Algeria, while also engaging more directly with African civil society and youth leaders, said Alain Antil, head of the Sub-Saharan Africa programme at the French Institute for International Relations.
At the same time, Paris has sought to boost trade ties, increasing its imports from Africa by a quarter between 2021 and 2024, according to data from the International Trade Centre.
In 2024, France and Nigeria signed a 300 million euro investment agreement to support critical infrastructure, health care, transportation and renewable energy across Africa’s most populous country.
Investment deals, particularly in areas such as clean energy, artificial intelligence and education, are expected to be central to Macron’s trip to Africa for the summit, during which he will also visit Egypt and Ethiopia.
Macron’s government has also sought to strengthen security cooperation with nontraditional partners, including by signing a defense pact with Kenya last October to boost cooperation in intelligence sharing, maritime security and peacekeeping.
However, France has faced high-profile setbacks in countries where foreign investors such as China and Gulf states have used deep pockets and longstanding relationships to expand influence.
Kenyan President William Ruto’s government terminated a deal with a consortium led by France’s Vinci SA for a $1.5 billion highway expansion project last year and awarded it to Chinese firms after Kenyan authorities said the contract exposed them to too much risk.
Ruto, who will co-host the summit, plans to focus on advancing talks on making the global financial system fairer for heavily indebted African countries. France has pledged to support his campaign.
