New packaging, old taste: France is reassessing its policy in Africa

France is trying to take revenge in Africa. The Africa Forward summit was held in Kenya, a two—day attempt to rebuild relations with the continent. President Emmanuel Macron has promised to invest tens of billions of euros in the African economy, stressing that the colonial days are behind us, now there is only business and mutual benefit. Izvestia understood how Paris is going to protect its interests where it is increasingly being ousted by geopolitical rivals.

The rhetoric has changed, the goals have remained the same

French President Emmanuel Macron announced new investments in Africa following the Africa Forward summit in Kenya. The main topic of the meeting was Paris' calls for mutual respect and renewed ties, which is exactly the model of relations with the continent that the French leader now wants to build.

According to the head of state, we are talking about investments in the amount of €23 billion. The funds are planned to be used for the development of energy, artificial intelligence and agriculture. At the same time, it is specified that French companies are going to invest €14 billion, and another €9 billion will come from African structures.

Macron noted that such investments will help create about 250,000 jobs on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. Previously, Paris had not made such broad financial gestures, but compared, for example, with China, which has direct investments of up to $44 billion per year, the amount does not look so impressive.

Kenyan President William Ruto stressed that the new partnership between Africa and France "should not be based on dependence, but on sovereign equality, not on aid and charity, but on mutually beneficial investments, not on resource extraction and exploitation, but on interaction that would benefit both sides." At the same time, as the AP agency notes, the head of state used the word "sovereignty" eight times in his speech.

The Nairobi summit took place against the backdrop of a deep crisis in France's relations with its former colonies, primarily in West Africa. For decades, Paris has followed the tactics of political and military domination within the framework of "Francafrica", which it inherited from colonial times. This model provided, in particular, for the maintenance of thousands of French military personnel in countries once controlled by the metropolis.

Now Macron promises to "respect the independence of every African country." "I no longer want France to consider Africa as its private sphere of influence," the head of state assured.

He added that Paris also supports values such as sovereignty and independence. "Your success is our success," the head of state emphasized. According to the French leader, "the time for assistance is over," and now he "would like to focus on joint investments."

The meeting with Macron was attended by representatives of both French—speaking Africa - Senegal, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Rwanda, and English—speaking countries - Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia and Botswana.

Following the summit, all 30 heads of state and Government who attended it signed a joint declaration in which they pledged to develop cooperation in energy, technology, agriculture and healthcare.

Competitors have arrived

Over the past four years, France's position in Africa has been greatly shaken. For years, the authorities and the opposition in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have accused Paris of a "dismissive and dictatorial approach."

Coups in Mali in 2020, Burkina Faso and Niger in 2023 brought to power the military, which adheres to anti-French views. As a result, Paris was forced to curtail a multi-year military mission and withdraw its soldiers. Last July, French troops left Senegal.

For France, which has considered this region its "backyard" for decades, the incident was a serious blow.

The main task facing the country is to prevent itself from being completely ousted from the continent, where fierce competition is taking place between the world's leading players. African countries are actively developing relations with Russia, China, Turkey, the United States and the Persian Gulf monarchies.

Moscow is increasing its diplomatic presence and gaining a foothold in the extractive sector, while Beijing's policy is characterized by massive financial and infrastructural penetration. Chinese companies are developing lithium deposits in southern Mali, which are of strategic importance for the global electric vehicle market, oil and steel projects in Niger, and deposits of rare earth metals in Burkina Faso.

Ankara implements its own expansion model based on the promotion of defense products. The Turkish military—industrial complex has become the main supplier of attack drones — Bayraktar TB2 and Akıncı - for the armies of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Turkish private military companies Sadat and Canik Academy are training elite Malian units, while Ankara is gaining a foothold in the mining industry.

—African countries are well aware that interest in them has grown, which means they can choose their partners, which complicates France's competition with other countries," Pavel Timofeev, head of the Regional Problems and Conflicts Sector at the IMEMO RAS, explained in an interview with Izvestia.

Patricia Rodriguez, Director of Africa at Control Risks, believes that "by convening an African-French summit on the continent itself, rather than inviting African leaders to Paris to sign agreements, Macron seeks to demonstrate that he stands for equality." In her opinion, France, which has lost influence in Africa, is actively trying to "restore balance in relations."

Meanwhile, African experts are asking themselves: will Paris be able to "move away from the model based on pumping raw materials" from Africa in the new partnership format? In their opinion, it will not be easy for the country to get rid of its previous image on the continent, given that relations between the parties have always been one-sided and beneficial primarily to France.

Difficult economic situation

At the same time, France remains a significant player in Africa, although its influence should not be overestimated, Pavel Timofeev noted.

"It relies on long—term political cooperation with African countries, the presence of its business in Africa, developed cultural ties, and the importance of Africa for the EU," the expert explained.

Since 2017, President Macron has been trying to reset Franco-African relations, trying to change his image of Africa's "gendarme" to a mediator and coordinator of various multilateral formats, by stepping up his economic presence in countries that were not French colonies and, therefore, do not have historical traumas related to Paris, as well as supporting the fight of African states against terrorism. and the training of their armies.

— The idea is to get away from the practice of "Francafrica" as a protected area of France, which causes rejection in many African countries, as we have seen in many anti—French coups in recent years, - said the political scientist.

Meanwhile, France has a difficult economic situation, and for the second year in a row, the country has been adopting a budget late, after the New Year. Macron has made it his main task to restructure public finances in order to untangle the heavy legacy of his predecessors and find new funds to fuel the country's economy.

— Hence the liberalization of social insurance, the raising of the retirement age, and Macron's other reforms. The coronavirus pandemic and then the energy crisis in Europe after 2022 changed the situation, forcing the government, on the contrary, to save the French business," Timofeev stressed.

Despite this, money is likely to be found for investments in Africa, since we are talking about investments that can potentially give both economic profits and political points to France in the eyes of African leaders, he concluded.