Kenya has urged African nations to embrace the France–Africa Summit in Nairobi from May 11 to 12 as a fresh start, insisting the gathering offers a chance to reset priorities despite lingering concerns over France’s past role on the continent.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said the conference should be an open canvas to rework Africa’s relations with France.
At a media roundtable ahead of the summit next week, the Kenyan top diplomat said he was aware of murmurs surrounding France’s footprints in other parts of the continent, and questions arising from hosting the conference in Kenya, this time.
“We are dealing with a different context,” he told a virtual briefing on Thursday, attended by other government officials involved in the preparations.
“The global environment in which this engagement is taking place requires a rethink on the part of countries involved. We are aware of the past misdeeds by many European countries, not just France, on this continent. But there is an internal clarity on the part of Africa that there is an advantage in engaging in a different setting, where we know what we want.”
Dr Sing’oei was responding to a question from an Ivorian journalist on why Nairobi kept the door open for Paris after it was rejected in some Francophone African countries, where people blamed French authorities for causing local bad governance.
Instead, the Kenyan official said Kenya was not pushing a local interest, but a continental one meant to present Africa as one region that knows its needs and priorities. Some 30 heads of state and government are expected in Nairobi from this Sunday to participate in the conference, now dubbed the ‘Africa Forward’ Summit, under the theme Africa–France Partnerships for Innovation and Growth.
Routinely held as a platform between Africa and France, it had in the past only been hosted in French-speaking countries. Kenya is the first Anglophone country to host it.
Both Kenyan and French officials have said the meeting will present opportunities for Africa’s global partnerships, seen as critical for shaping a new wave of future-oriented, high-impact collaborations focused on innovation, investment, and sustainable growth across the continent.
Some 4,000 delegates and more than 2,000 private sector leaders and companies are expected to attend and discuss areas such as energy transition and green industrialisation, reform of international financial architecture, blue economy, sustainable agriculture, and artificial intelligence and digital technologies.
“We will have an outcome that speaks of Africa’s priorities as well as the interests of France,” he said. “There are issues with respect to which negotiations will happen on the floor. Africa will not be engaging as one country, but 54 countries. This is really a fresh start for everybody, not just Anglophone, Francophone or Arab zone.”
According to the available provisional itinerary, the meeting is a mixture of business, art, geopolitics and everything in between. Some 2,000 corporate chiefs are expected in Nairobi to discuss AI, energy transition, health manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructure, creative economy and sports.
There will also be the Plus Africa Forward Le Concert at Kasarani Stadium, featuring Senegalese legend Youssou N’Dour. Others listed include Congolese popstar Fally Ipupa, Nigerian Yemi Alade, South Africa’s Nomcebo Zikode, Ugandan legend Jose Chameleone, and Kenya’s Savara of Sauti Sol fame.
In Nairobi, officials say that alone shows governments are thinking outside the box. Sing’oei admitted that political will is needed to rectify any misjudgments of the past. Officials added that the continent must not come to the table merely as a user of products, but as a participant in their production.
Philip Thigo, Kenya’s Technology Envoy, said artificial intelligence is one area the continent must work hard to stay in the game.
“Africa cannot enter the age of artificial intelligence as a user. We must be part of the design,” he told the briefing, adding that the future of sovereignty in technology will not be isolationism, but a setting where tools like AI are equally shared.
“We are still a continent with the least data centre capacity, just one percent.”
France had already been investing in Kenya long before the summit. According to official data, it is the fourth foreign direct investor in Kenya, with some 140 French companies present.
Yet there are geopolitical connotations attached to the summit. The first signal could be in who attends, or who does not. The second sign will be what the summit decides.
Among the list of 30 heads of state, it is expected that coup leaders from the Sahel region — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — will skip the event. They all came to power criticising France for enabling bad governance through elected leaders. Paris denied the charge.
Kenya says the past is important to learn from, but the future should be the priority for Africans.
“France’s policy shift towards more structured engagement with African priorities comes at a most propitious time. The significance of that shift will, however, depend on whether it produces practical, sustained outcomes,” Sing’oei argued.
“Partnership is often described in broad terms. Its value is better assessed through specific measures. Investment that materialises. Market access that improves. Financing structures that respond to the needs of developing economies. These are the indicators that determine whether engagement is effective,” he wrote in a commentary shared with media outlets.
