THE NAIROBI NARRATIVE

WHAT EMMANUEL MACRON’S €23-BILLION INVESTMENT AND RENEWED AFRICA PARTNERSHIP MEAN FOR THE CONTINENT.

- by Paula Slier

France’s relationship with Africa is undergoing one of its biggest transformations in decades.

At the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, in May, which had over 30 African heads of state in attendance, French President Emmanuel Macron presented a new vision for the continent, one built less around military influence and more around investment, infrastructure, finance and technology.

The shift comes after years of anti-French sentiment across parts of West Africa and the Sahel, where French military operations and longstanding political ties have increasingly been portrayed as symbols of neocolonialism.

But analysts say France’s pivot is not simply about goodwill. It’s also about survival on a continent where African governments now have more geopolitical options than ever before.

What does this mean for Africa?

“France didn’t pivot to investment because it understood Africa. It pivoted because everything else stopped working,” says Raymond Langa, CEO of communications agency Leagas Delaney South Africa. “The continent has been asking for co-investment over aid for twenty years. What changed is France’s options, not Africa’s position.”

The Nairobi summit itself was symbolic. Kenya is not part of France's traditional Francophone sphere of influence, and the growing French focus on Anglophone Africa reflects a broader strategic recalibration.