Denouncing the Africa-France summit

On 11–12 May 2026, Kenyan President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron, joined by more than 30 heads of state and over 1,500 business leaders, gathered in Nairobi for what France branded the "Africa Forward Summit: Africa-France Partnerships for Innovation and Growth." The agenda covered energy transition, green industrialisation, digital innovation, sustainable agriculture, the blue economy, health systems, and the reform of the international financial architecture. Civil society organisations and grassroots movements were effectively locked out – excluded through invite-only access and a deliberate withholding of timely information about how to participate.

Françafrique Didn't Die: It Moved East

For decades, France maintained the largest permanent military presence of any former colonial power on the continent, with troops stationed at various times across Cameroon, Gabon, Senegal, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Mali, and Côte d'Ivoire. This went hand-in-hand with what critics called Françafrique: a system of political, economic, and military control over former colonies that included currency manipulation through the CFA franc, backing for compliant leaders, and military interventions that served French interests over African lives. See more in our recent post: Neocolonialism and the illusion of finance in Africa.

A wave of coups across Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso brought to power leaders determined to end French military presence on their soil. The populations of these countries had watched France prop up authoritarian regimes, fail to contain jihadist insurgencies despite years of military occupation, and continue extracting natural resources while their people remained poor. France was expelled and so it needed a new partner: Kenya. 

For the first time in its 53-year history, the Africa-France Summit was held outside a Francophone country. But moving the country does not change imperial politics. When France talks about "green industrialisation," it means access to the minerals needed for its own energy transition. When it talks about the "blue economy," it means maritime security along its supply routes. When it talks about "sustainable agriculture," it does not mean the smallholder farmers who feed the African continent – it means agribusiness investment opportunities. And when it talks about "climate partnership," it means carbon markets that benefit polluters. 

The Military Deal

The summit arrived on the heels of a new and controversial France-Kenya defence cooperation agreement, and the deployment of 800 French soldiers to the port city of Mombasa for joint training exercises. The five-year pact is automatically renewable and French soldiers cannot be prosecuted by Kenyan courts.

This fits a long-established pattern of Kenya positioning itself as a preferred security partner of Euro-American states, ranking among the top recipients of U.S. security assistance on the continent and hosting British, American, and now French troops on its soil.

A Stepping Stone to the G7

France is returning to Africa for strategic influence, raw materials, markets, military expansion, and geopolitical influence ahead of hosting the G7 meeting in Évian in June. Macron has invited both Ruto and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission to attend. Kenya, alongside Brazil, South Korea, and India, has also participated in preparatory G7 work under the guise of "reflecting broader global consensus" – a mere farce trying to legitimise the G7 summit as a space for global decision making while its remaining a closed club of wealthy Global North states making decisions that affect the whole world.

The Nairobi Declaration is being shaped, in part, to consolidate France's position as Africa's gatekeeper at the G7 table.

What Role Does Debt Play?

Kenya's government is drowning in debt: it has risen from $16bn in 2013 to $90bn in 2025. Debt repayments consume 65% of annual government revenue, with interest payments alone accounting for around 30%. Kenya holds the second-largest IMF loan portfolio on the continent. 

The result? Under IMF direction, the Kenyan government has been pressing ahead with privatising and selling off state assets while attacking the living standards of the working class. In 2024, a generation-defining revolt erupted when the government introduced IMF-backed tax hikes on bread, fuel, cooking oil, and digital transfers. At least 65 protesters were killed in summer 2024, and extrajudicial killings and abductions continued into 2025. While accusing the government of reckless financial decisions, protesters also turned the spotlight on the IMF and World Bank for their role in Kenya's escalating debt and social crises. Even though the Finance Bill was withdrawn, Kenya’s debt remains until today. And so, Ruto's government is looking for investment, loans, and geopolitical backing wherever it can find them – including from France who is Kenya's 5th largest foreign investor. 

Meanwhile, climate finance promised by the Global North has overwhelmingly failed to materialise: Kenya secured only USD 146 million in climate finance between 2003 and 2025, against an estimated need of USD 62 billion for the coming decade. Carbon markets are being embraced as a substitute – a mechanism that benefits polluters and opens yet more land and resources to foreign capital.

And with the summit, Ruto is opening Kenya's doors even wider to foreign powers promising "investment," "security," and "green growth."  Kenya’s government, weighed down by debt and IMF conditionalities, is being positioned as France’s new gateway into the continent after anti-French resistance grew across West Africa. The architecture of colonial imperialist extraction has not disappeared. It has simply been rebranded.