NAIROBI — Speaking at the close of the Africa Forward Summit on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron cast the gathering as a definitive break from decades of post-colonial economic and military dominance over Africa.
The French leader announced that the summit had yielded a combined €23 billion ($27 billion) in investment commitments, with €14 billion from French companies and €9 billion from African entities, targeting energy, artificial intelligence and agriculture. “The days of offering assistance are behind us,” Macron said. “I’d like to focus on co-investment.”
Kenyan President William Ruto, who co-hosted the summit, wove the word “sovereignty” eight times into his speech, underlining a central demand from African capitals. “New partnerships between the African nations and France must not be built on dependency but on sovereign equality, not on aid or charity but on mutually beneficial investment, and not on extraction or exploitation but on win-win engagements,” Ruto said.
The Nairobi event, which drew 30 African heads of state and government from Francophone and Anglophone countries alike, was held on the continent rather than in Paris — a deliberate gesture, according to Patricia Rodrigues, Africa director for Control Risks. “By organizing an Africa-France summit on the continent, rather than requiring African heads of state to travel to Paris to sign agreements, Macron is seeking to demonstrate that commitment to equality,” she said.
France has struggled to shed the legacy of Françafrique, a colonial-era policy of economic, political and military sway that long kept thousands of French troops in West African nations. After years of criticism from leaders and opposition parties in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, Paris withdrew its forces from those countries and completed its pull-out from Senegal last July.
Kenyan economist Wangari Muikia said the widening presence of non-European players was reshaping the continent’s choices. “China, the Gulf (Arab) states, and others have expanded aggressively into (African) infrastructure, energy, and manufacturing, offering governments alternative sources of finance and partnership,” she said. Muikia cautioned that the biggest test would be whether the new French model moved beyond extracting raw materials. “Without that structural shift, the legacy of Françafrique will continue to shape perceptions of France’s engagement, regardless of how the new model is presented,” she said.
As the summit wrapped up, all 30 leaders signed a joint declaration pledging cooperation in energy, technology, agriculture and health, marking what Macron described as a “new and revamped” chapter in Africa-France relations.