French President Emmanuel Macron seems to be guaranteed a warm official welcome when he arrives in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, next month for the Africa-France summit, despite the growing anti-France sentiments across the continent.

Ahead of the summit, one major talking point has been the choice of the venue, seen as a counterbalance to France’s waning influence in its former colonies in West Africa, where nations like Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have asserted greater sovereignty and severed ties with Paris.

The so-called ‘’Africa Forward Summit’’ is scheduled to take place from 11 to 12 May and it will be the first time such a summit is held outside a former French colony as Kenya was colonised by Britain and remains an English-speaking country.

France courtship with Kenya is more than a shift towards East Africa because of its dwindling standing in West Africa, according to some observers.

“What we are seeing is a global competition for sea links and maritime entrenchment,” one expert tells TRT Afrika.

“There is a general geopolitical shift slightly towards maritime consolidation. The battle today is shaping around sea links, waterways and choke points. So, it makes sense for France to take East Africa seriously,” he adds.

Lessons from Iran war 

Analysts say the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran serves as a reminder to global powers that control of key economic nerves, particularly access to sea, is crucial in modern geopolitics.

“Iran’s war has reminded the world that the contest today is not simply about who can fire the longest range of ballistic missiles against the other, but who controls chokepoints and can cause greater harm,” the analyst observes.

Iran has recently restricted the movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles more than 20% of the world’s crude oil shipments, causing global market shocks. Iran’s move was in response to US-Israel joint strikes on Tehran in late February which triggered the ongoing war.

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Kenya’s coastline extends from Somalia to Tanzania and covers a distance of about 600 kilometres. Its location in the western Indian Ocean gives it access to routes connecting to the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. 

“There is a maritime component to Kenya’s strategy. It’s not a coincidence that immediately it began framing its place in the region in maritime terms that is when France started taking it seriously,” the analyst says.

Amid a public backlash, Kenya’s President William Ruto defended the relations with France. “At the summit, we will actively engage on key issues, including reforming the international financial architecture and strengthening secure, sustainable economic partnerships,” Ruto said after a meeting with French ambassador to Nairobi Arnaud Suquet in early April.

Kenya-France defence pact

There has been a flurry of activities in the lead up to the Nairobi conference. Early this month, Kenya’s parliament approved a five-year defence agreement with France that is automatically renewable upon completion.

It covers peacekeeping operations in the region, maritime security in the Indian Ocean, intelligence sharing and disaster response. Reports say hundreds of French soldiers have since landed at the port of Mombasa and there is talk of a naval base in the works.

But the deal has drawn concern over a clause that gives immunity to French soldiers if accused of crimes committed on Kenyan soil. Human rights campaigners say the clause is not supported by Kenyan law and raises questions about transparency and accountability.

“The defence cooperation agreement between Kenya and France must completely comply with Kenyan laws. Kenyan courts have already pronounced themselves clearly that there is no sovereign immunity for anyone,” says Macharia Mwangi of the African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action (ACCPA), an advocacy group which successfully sued the British army following accusations of serious misconduct by British soldiers training in the country.

“So even as the French government is pursuing its course, it should be conscious of legal realities in Kenya. We should not see what happened in the Sahel region being imported to Kenya,” Mwangi says, drawing a possible parallel with the brutal exploitation of countries in West and Central Africa by France over the years.

He reckons that the Kenya-France defence agreement was the result of a “completely rushed process” that “lacked public participation”.

The protection clause in the Paris-Nairobi defence pact mirrors a similar provision in Kenya’s defence cooperation agreement with the UK, which critics point out has led to British soldiers serving under the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) evading accountability after being accused of sexual abuse, killings and environmental destruction while training in the East African country.

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The most prominent allegation relates to the 2012 murder of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru near the British forces’ training camp in the town of Nanyuki. The suspect, a British soldier named Robert Purkiss, is facing extradition hearings after denying any involvement in Wanjiru’s death.

A Kenyan parliamentary inquiry published in December said British troops were seen as an “occupying presence”. This has led to fears across Kenya of a repeat of similar incidents under the French defence deal.

‘Face-saving move’

President Macron’s overtures to Kenya saw him invite President Ruto to the G7 Summit due in June. But the gesture set off a debate after reports emerged that France withdrew an earlier invitation to South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to create space for President Ruto.

It was reported that the US had put huge pressure on France to rescind President Ramaphosa’s invitation amid deteriorating relations between Washington and Pretoria over economic and foreign policy issues since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House in January 2025.

Paris denied yielding to any US pressure to disinvite Ramaphosa, while President Ramaphosa downplayed exclusion from the summit, saying his absence should not be seen as a snub.

“There was a perceived African rivalry in it. But Africa is now a continent with powerful states with improving economies, big populations and big markets. It’s natural for these states to increasingly become more assertive on their interests,” one analyst explains.

 “When countries are jostling and vying for competition, it is natural to elbow each other. It’s part of a continent trying to assert itself and also a natural and healthy competition between African states.”

Unlike West African countries, Kenya does not have a colonial history with France. However, Nairobi’s partnership with Paris raises a question whether the East African nation has learned enough lessons from France’s dealings with its former colonies, which have kicked out Paris due to its decades of economic, security and political exploitation leaving a legacy of poverty and insecurity, according to Kenyan political scientist Prof Macharia Munene.

“Macron wants to reverse his dwindling standing in Africa,” Munene tells TRT Afrika, adding that France’s courtship with Kenya is a “face-saving” gesture that needs to be treated with caution following its humiliating exit from the Sahel countries.