French President Emmanuel Macron interrupted a panel session at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi on Monday, seizing the microphone to rebuke audience members for making noise and what he described as a “total lack of respect” toward speakers, according to video of the incident and reporting by the Associated Press. The intervention immediately drew a reaction that ranged from applause inside the room to sharp criticism online, with some critics describing the moment as emblematic of France’s colonial history on the continent.
Macron appeared visibly frustrated by the noise level in the room during a presentation by artists and young entrepreneurs, the AP reported. He walked onto the stage, asked the speaker to hand him the microphone, and addressed the audience in English, saying he would “restore order.”
The gesture drew applause from some attendees, but it also generated swift condemnation. “Just imagine what would happen if an African leader did the same thing in America or Europe,” Thierno Mbaye, a history student at a university in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, told the AP. “He acted like a schoolteacher scolding children.”
Criticism extended into French domestic politics. Danièle Obono, a lawmaker for the hard-left party France Unbowed, posted on X: “It’s stronger than him: as soon as he sets foot on the African continent, he can’t help but behave like a colonizer.”
The incident has compounded scrutiny of Macron’s broader message at the summit, which is designed to showcase what Paris describes as a new policy of equal partnership with African nations. On Tuesday, Macron announced a $27 billion investment into sectors including energy, artificial intelligence, and agriculture, according to the AP.
The summit, which was set to close on Tuesday with a declaration expected to be signed by all 30 heads of state in attendance, comes at a delicate moment in France’s relationship with the continent. France has long maintained a policy of economic, political, and military influence in its former colonies, a system known as Françafrique. After years of criticism from African leaders and opposition parties, France has withdrawn most of its troops from the region, including completing its withdrawal from Senegal in July.
Macron had already generated controversy ahead of the summit when he described himself as a “true Pan-Africanist” during a news conference alongside Kenyan President William Ruto. Pan-Africanism, a philosophy rooted in the unity of African peoples and the elimination of colonialism, struck many observers as a jarring claim from the leader of a former colonial power.
“Pan Africanism is not a brand, Mr. Macron, neither is it a diplomatic posture,” Farida Nabourema, a Togolese human rights activist, said in an open letter on Monday. “It is a political philosophy that said no to everything France spent three centuries saying yes to: slavery, colonialism and neocolonialism.”
Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst at geopolitical risk consultancy Control Risks, told the AP that Macron is attempting to distance France from its diplomatic and military setbacks in West Africa by pivoting eastward on the continent, signaling that French strategic priorities now follow wherever Paris finds goodwill. Ochieng said Macron’s remarks were raising questions about whether France’s renewed engagement with Africa represents a genuine equal partnership or merely convenient rhetoric.
Alioune Tine, founder of the Afrikajom Center think tank, offered a different reading, suggesting Macron’s pan-Africanist remark may have been a subtle jab at pro-Russian voices online that French officials view as inauthentic or politically manipulated. Russia has replaced France as the main security partner in several West African countries in recent years, the AP reported.
Tine also said that while relations between Western powers and African states remain “inherently paternalistic,” Macron has shifted French policy away from the colonial legacy through a more informal diplomatic style aimed at rebuilding trust.
According to an Ipsos survey conducted on behalf of the French Foreign Ministry in nine African countries ahead of the summit, 74% of respondents said they had a positive image of France, with support highest in English-speaking countries and among respondents under 35.
Macron, who is the first French president born after the colonial era, pledged after his first election in 2017 that he would reset French relations with Africa. Addressing the summit on Tuesday, he said Paris would respect each African country’s independence, adding that “sovereignty and autonomy is shared, and your success is our success.” The French presidency and Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the backlash, the AP reported.