标签： Africa

In a landmark shift marking a profound reorientation of France’s engagement with the African continent, French President Emmanuel Macron joined Kenyan President William Ruto to co-host the first-ever Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, this week. The gathering represents a strategic break from decades of Paris-centered or Francophone Africa-only summits, coming amid growing anti-French sentiment and eroding French influence in its traditional West African former colonial sphere. Over 30 African heads of state, top business leaders including Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, and executives from major French firms gathered for the two-day event focused on expanding cross-continental economic partnership.

Macron used his opening address to announce a $27 billion package of new French investments across priority African sectors, ranging from energy transition, digital innovation and artificial intelligence, to the blue maritime economy and sustainable agriculture. The French president emphasized that the investment initiative is projected to generate an estimated 250,000 new jobs on both the African continent and in France, framing the partnership as a two-way street rather than a one-sided donor relationship. “Africa is succeeding. It’s the youngest continent in the world… and needs investment to become more self-reliant,” Macron told attendees at the Nairobi Convention Centre. He added that France is not only seeking to invest in African markets, but is actively encouraging leading African business leaders to expand their investments into the European country.

The summit comes against a decades-long backdrop of criticism that France has maintained neocolonial-style political, economic and military control over its former African colonies decades after they gained independence in the 1960s. Tensions have boiled over in recent years in West Africa, where military juntas that seized power in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger all expelled French counter-insurgency troops and pivoted to closer security ties with Russia; none of the three nations’ leaders are in attendance at the Nairobi summit. France now only maintains one operational military base on the continent, based in Djibouti at the entrance to the Red Sea. Ahead of the summit, Macron defended the drawdown of French military presence, framing the withdrawal from unwelcome stations as a deliberate step respecting African sovereignty, not a defeat. “When our presence was no longer wanted after the coups, we left. I’m convinced that we must let these states and their leaders, even putschists, chart their own course,” he said.

By choosing to co-host the summit in English-speaking Kenya rather than a traditional Francophone African nation, French officials are sending a clear signal that Paris is expanding its African partnerships beyond its old colonial sphere. Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi framed the location as a deliberate rejection of the colonial-era divisions that split African nations into Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone blocs, which he argued have long hindered cross-continental integration. “Having this summit being held in a non-French-speaking African country on the continent, to me, is a very, very big message that we should not be looking at engagements on the basis of the official languages that are spoken in those countries,” Mudavadi told the BBC. He added that the summit, which covers both peace and security and broad economic cooperation, is a deliberate move to “start speaking as one” and focus on the future rather than rehashing colonial history. Kenyan officials note that as a former British colony, Kenya shares no direct colonial history with France, making it an ideal neutral diplomatic bridge for the event, a point echoed by Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei, who described Kenya as a natural “bridge-builder” for pan-African engagement.

Analysts broadly frame the summit as a deliberate strategic repositioning for France, which is competing with growing influence from other global powers including China, Russia and Turkey across the African continent. Gilles Yabi, a Senegal-based independent political analyst specializing in Franco-African relations, told the BBC that the shift reflects not just a reaction to deteriorating ties in West Africa, but a long-running recognition that France needs to pursue new, dynamic markets beyond its traditional sphere of influence. “It’s not only a reaction of France to the deteriorating relationship with some countries in West Africa. It’s also a trend that has been there for some time because France realises that it has to look for new markets, dynamic markets and looking beyond traditional former colonies of West and Central Africa,” Yabi explained.
Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst at global risk advisory firm Control Risks, argues that France is moving away from reliance on military influence toward a soft-power and economic engagement strategy. “France is repositioning and softening its presence and reputation. Rather than relying mainly on military influence, she believes that France is increasingly using business, investment and soft power to maintain its relevance on the continent. France is looking to leverage already recognisable commercial brands, cultural presence and its weight in the European Union to mobilise economic initiatives,” Ochieng explained.

For Kenya, the summit offers significant potential economic and diplomatic gains: France is already Kenya’s fourth-largest source of foreign direct investment, with French brands including retail giant Carrefour already well-established across Nairobi’s more affluent neighborhoods, and French firms active in Kenyan transport, energy and retail infrastructure. Kenyan officials are actively seeking new foreign investment in infrastructure, renewable energy and digital technology, and have already held early exploratory talks with French counterparts about potential future cooperation on nuclear energy to diversify Kenya’s long-term energy mix. Last month, Nairobi also approved a new five-year renewable defense cooperation agreement with France, covering intelligence sharing, Indian Ocean maritime security and joint disaster response operations.

The summit was not without controversy: during a public event, Macron drew criticism on social media after he interrupted a speaker to chide audience members for holding side conversations, saying “There is a total lack of respect” and urging disruptive attendees to move their discussions to private meeting rooms. Some social media users slammed the outburst as evidence that France has not abandoned its old colonial habit of lecturing African partners, while others argued the French president was well within his rights to call for order during formal proceedings.

Macron struck a clear new tone for Franco-African relations in an address at the University of Nairobi ahead of the summit’s official opening, stressing that Paris now recognizes Africa’s demand for full sovereignty and no longer seeks to dictate policy to African nations. “Africa needs investment to become more sovereign. This is a continent that I no longer want France to view as a private preserve, where business leaders supposedly have all the rights or guaranteed contracts simply because it’s Francophone Africa,” Macron said. “The continent no longer… needs or wants to hear European leaders telling them what their countries need.” French Ambassador to Kenya Arnaud Suquet noted that France has long-standing ties with the East African nation, saying “it is not as if France has just discovered Kenya yesterday” ahead of the high-profile gathering, framing the summit as a deepening of already robust bilateral relations.

Fifteen years after putting down roots in Bristol’s St Jude’s neighborhood, a former Somali refugee is poised to take on one of the city’s highest civic honors. Green Party councillor Yassin Mohamud, who has represented the Lawrence Hill ward since 2021, will be sworn in as Bristol’s new Lord Mayor in a ceremony at City Hall, succeeding outgoing Conservative incumbent Henry Michallat.

Mohamud’s journey to civic leadership began 20 years ago, when he left Somalia to reunite with family members who had already settled in Bristol. Recounting his early days as a new arrival, he reflected on the steep challenges of building a new life from scratch, navigating barriers to secure housing, employment and stable footing. What made the difference, he says, was the targeted guidance he received from local community members. That early support shaped his lifelong commitment to lifting up other new arrivals and marginalized residents.

After starting out as a volunteer, Mohamud went on to earn a degree from the University of Plymouth before holding multiple public sector roles, including a position with Bristol City Council. Today, he counts himself as a proud Bristolian, with a family that has grown up and put down roots in the city. “My children were born in Bristol. We are a Bristol family,” he emphasized.

His path into local politics grew directly out of his community and voluntary work, fueled by personal experience of the struggles that face many working-class and migrant residents in the city. As a councillor for Lawrence Hill, one of Bristol’s more deprived wards, Mohamud has already led high-profile response efforts for local residents. In November 2023, he was on the frontlines supporting hundreds of residents after Barton House was evacuated over dangerous major structural faults that threatened a building collapse. Even months later, many displaced families continue to live with the trauma of the displacement, Mohamud says. He hopes the incident will push the city to learn from technical and administrative missteps, and he has made improving local governance accountability a key personal priority.

Mohamud says his unique background as a refugee, a member of Bristol’s black and minority ethnic community, and a representative of a low-income ward will define his tenure in the ceremonial role of Lord Mayor, a post that rotates annually between the city’s four major political groups: the Greens, Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. While the role is mostly ceremonial, with responsibilities including chairing full council meetings and representing Bristol at major civic events such as the Remembrance Sunday parade and the annual Lord Mayor’s Christmas Appeal for Children, Mohamud plans to center his tenure on a core mission.
“Unity is the biggest priority for the city, working with all the parties and for all our communities,” he said. When he takes office, he aims to bring “unity, working together and helping each other” to the role, fulfilling the public service mission he set out when he first entered office: to listen, serve, and collaborate with Bristol residents to build a city where every person has the opportunity to thrive.

A core focus of his tenure will be lifting up residents in the city’s most deprived communities, many of whom are former refugees like himself. He wants to send a clear message that migrant residents are full, contributing members of the Bristol community, and that any path is open to them: “They are no longer refugees, they are Bristolians and are part of the city. They can be anyone they want to be: as doctors, engineers, Lord Mayor.”

As the Ugandan capital Kampala prepares for Tuesday’s inauguration of 81-year-old Yoweri Museveni for an eighth five-year term, the East African nation turns its focus to a question that will define its future: how will power transition when the leader who has ruled for four decades finally steps down?

For millions of Ugandans, Museveni’s presidency is the only national leadership they have ever known. While most accept his time in office is drawing to a close, the path forward remains deeply unclear, with growing speculation that the presidency could pass to his son, army chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who has openly declared his ambition to succeed his father.

Kainerugaba, 52, the widely presumed heir apparent, has already taken a prominent public role in the lead-up to the inauguration, overseeing days of military parade rehearsals that saw Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets roar over Kampala’s ceremonial grounds. Two potential paths to the presidency have emerged for the general, though both carry significant questions. The first is an unconstitutional but peaceful handover of power directly to Kainerugaba, while the second would rely on the ruling party’s overwhelming parliamentary majority to pass a constitutional amendment clearing his path to the nomination. A straight electoral victory is widely seen as a major challenge: opposition leader Bobi Wine, a popular former entertainer who has already run for president twice and rejected the results of January’s election that extended Museveni’s tenure, is expected to mount a strong challenge if Kainerugaba runs.

Top ruling party figures have already lined up to back Kainerugaba’s bid. Parliamentary Speaker Anita Among told a gathering of lawmakers celebrating the general’s birthday last month that the ruling party’s majority in parliament would clear any obstacle for him, noting that the opposition was already marginalized in the 11th parliament and would be soundly defeated in the 12th. “For the sake of MK, just assure MK that we will do whatever it takes,” Among said, using Kainerugaba’s initials.

The rush of senior politicians to pledge allegiance to Kainerugaba not only reflects their own calculations for political survival but also confirms his growing status as Uganda’s de facto authority as his father ages and relies increasingly on military leadership to govern. Andrew Mwenda, a close associate of Kainerugaba, wrote last month in online publication The Independent that “Many Ugandans close to power have learned this lesson. That the president is old and exhausted, both intellectually and physically. He has a limited ability to monitor many things across a large spectrum of sectors.”

Kainerugaba’s rise through the military ranks, which began after he joined the armed forces in the late 1990s, has long been controversial, with critics labeling the planned succession the “Muhoozi Project.” While Museveni and Kainerugaba have repeatedly denied any pre-planned hereditary transfer of power, observers say it has become increasingly clear over the past two years that this is Museveni’s preferred outcome. With no viable rivals to Museveni within the ruling National Resistance Movement, many analysts agree the military will ultimately wield decisive influence over the selection of the next president.

“While people are waiting for the legal transition from Museveni, the de facto transition has already happened,” said Angelo Izama, an analyst with Uganda-based think tank Fanaka Kwawote. “Kainerugaba, more than the president, is the final voice on defense and security matters.”

Unlike his father, who cultivated a charismatic, pragmatic populist style that allowed him to co-opt rivals and retain power for decades, Kainerugaba is known for a more confrontational approach. Associates describe him as a disciplined career military officer, educated at elite military institutions in the United States and United Kingdom, who avoids ostentatious displays of wealth. He also founded the Patriotic League of Uganda, a political activist group that draws support from across the ruling establishment, including sitting government ministers and prominent business figures. But he lacks Museveni’s ability to build cross-factional alliances, and has drawn criticism for provocative, offensive public posts on social media. He has also pursued a high-profile anti-corruption crackdown that has led to the arrest of several senior generals, including former allies.

Museveni first seized power in 1986 at the head of a guerrilla movement, promising to bring democracy to Uganda after years of civil war and political chaos. At the time, he famously criticized Africa’s problem of leaders clinging to power long after they had lost public support. Later, he revised his stance, arguing his criticism only applied to leaders who extended their rule without winning an electoral mandate.

Over his four decades in office, Museveni, a key U.S. ally in regional counterterrorism and security efforts, has been widely credited with delivering sustained relative peace and economic growth to Uganda. But in recent years, he has drawn growing international criticism for an increasingly authoritarian turn that contradicts his early democratic promises. Term and age limits for the presidency have been scrapped, leading political opponents have been jailed or sidelined, and new legislation has raised alarms about shrinking space for civil society and opposition activity.

Most recently, Ugandan lawmakers passed a bill framed as a measure to counter foreign interference in domestic politics. The legislation caps annual funding from foreign sources for any local actor at roughly $110,000, requiring government approval for any funding above that limit. Critics warn the law will cripple the work of independent non-governmental organizations and opposition groups. Wine’s National Unity Platform condemned the legislation as “unconstitutional, irrelevant and brought in bad faith to further persecute those with divergent views.”

South Africa’s sitting president Cyril Ramaphosa, who has held the nation’s highest office since 2018, has announced he will not step down amid growing pressure over the Phala Phala cash theft scandal, and will instead launch a legal battle to block the report that cleared the way for parliamentary impeachment proceedings against him. The announcement on Monday put an end to weeks of widespread public speculation over whether Ramaphosa would choose to resign to avoid the unfolding political crisis, with the president stating firmly: “I remain here and am not resigning.”

The controversy at the center of the current political standoff traces back to an incident of large-scale cash theft from Ramaphosa’s private game farm, Phala Phala, where thousands of U.S. dollars were discovered missing from concealed storage inside furniture on the property. An independent investigative panel assembled to probe the incident concluded that there was prima facie evidence suggesting Ramaphosa may have committed serious misconduct related to his handling of the theft. Ramaphosa has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that the stolen funds were proceeds from the legitimate sale of buffalo through his private farming operation.

Last week, South Africa’s Constitutional Court delivered a landmark ruling that upended the existing parliamentary process, finding that the national legislature had acted unconstitutionally when it voted in 2022 to reject launching a formal impeachment inquiry into Ramaphosa based on the Phala Phala panel’s findings. The top court ordered that the matter must proceed to a full impeachment examination in parliament, rather than being dismissed entirely.

In response to the ruling, Ramaphosa confirmed that his legal team would petition the courts to review the independent panel’s investigative report and ultimately have it set aside. The president argues the findings are fundamentally flawed because they relied heavily on unsubstantiated hearsay evidence rather than verifiable, direct proof of misconduct. If Ramaphosa’s legal challenge fails and the impeachment process moves forward, the report will become the core foundation for opposition parties’ legislative efforts to oust him from the presidency.

Political analyst Professor Richard Calland, who studies South Africa’s political landscape, noted that even if the impeachment vote proceeds to a floor vote in parliament, Ramaphosa is likely to secure enough support to remain in office. Calland added that Ramaphosa’s decision to pursue a legal challenge may be a strategic move to avoid a public, damaging impeachment hearing entirely — a process that would inevitably cause lasting harm to the president’s public reputation and political legacy, regardless of the final vote outcome.

During an official conference held on Kenyan soil, French President Emmanuel Macron took an unexpected step to restore order, rising from his seat and interrupting the ongoing speaking program to demand that disruptive audience members stop talking.

The incident unfolded as persistent noise from parts of the audience made it difficult for the scheduled speaker to be heard by attendees. Frustrated by the continued commotion and what he framed as a failure to extend basic courtesy to the person at the podium, Macron publicly called out the disruption, stating that the lack of quiet amounted to a complete disregard for the speaker and the event itself. He emphasized that it was simply impossible for a speaker to deliver their remarks effectively when the audience was not willing to maintain a respectful level of silence.

The conference, which formed part of Macron’s official visit to Kenya, was focused on deepening bilateral cooperation between France and the East African nation, covering issues ranging from development partnership to climate action. The unexpected interruption drew immediate attention from other attendees and observers, highlighting the friction that can arise between diplomatic protocol and on-the-ground event dynamics during high-profile international visits.

Four years after a secret cash theft at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s private game ranch sparked allegations of serious presidential misconduct, South Africa’s national legislature has moved forward to launch a formal impeachment inquiry, complying with a landmark ruling from the country’s highest court that upends a 2021 attempt to shut down the investigation.

On Monday, parliament announced it would establish a multi-party committee to reexamine the long-running scandal, which centers on claims that Ramaphosa concealed the 2020 theft of more than $580,000 in undeclared cash stashed in a sofa at his farm, failed to report the incident to law enforcement properly, and orchestrated a secret off-the-books effort to recover the stolen funds.

The move comes in direct response to a Constitutional Court judgment issued last Friday, which struck down a 2022 parliamentary vote that blocked impeachment proceedings against the incumbent president as unconstitutional. At the time of that 2022 vote, Ramaphosa’s long-ruling African National Congress (ANC) held an outright majority in the 400-seat national legislature, allowing the party to quash the inquiry despite findings from an independent investigative panel that uncovered credible evidence of potential presidential wrongdoing. The top court ruled last week that procedural rules required the independent panel’s 2022 report to be referred to a dedicated impeachment committee for full review, rather than being dismissed outright by a plenary vote.

The scandal first erupted in 2022, when the former head of South Africa’s State Security Agency filed a formal police complaint accusing Ramaphosa of money laundering and multiple other offenses tied to the hidden cash. The theft itself had been kept secret for two years before the allegations became public. Ramaphosa has repeatedly denied any misconduct, asserting the cash was generated from the legitimate sale of buffalo to international buyers from his game ranch. But the independent 2022 report cast significant doubt on this explanation, noting evidence that the total amount of stolen cash may have been larger than the $580,000 Ramaphosa acknowledged, and documenting that the president used members of his official presidential protection unit to secretly track down the theft suspects without following official law enforcement protocols.

Under South Africa’s constitution, removing a sitting president via impeachment requires the support of at least two-thirds of the 400 sitting members of parliament. The political landscape has shifted dramatically since the 2022 vote: in the landmark 2024 general election, the ANC lost its decades-long parliamentary majority, and now governs as the largest partner in a 10-party national unity coalition. While Ramaphosa remains in a position to survive an impeachment vote if his ANC caucus unites behind him and secures backing from coalition partners, the new inquiry creates significant political uncertainty for his presidency.

In a statement issued shortly after last week’s Constitutional Court ruling, Ramaphosa’s office reaffirmed the president’s commitment to the rule of law, saying, “President Ramaphosa maintains that no person is above the law and that any allegations should be subjected to due process without fear, favor or prejudice.”

Parliament has not yet released a formal timeline for the impeachment committee’s investigation, which must complete its work before any full impeachment vote can be scheduled. For Ramaphosa, who campaigned for office in 2018 on a promise to root out widespread government corruption that flourished during the tenure of his predecessor Jacob Zuma, the renewed inquiry represents one of the most significant challenges to his political career, and has already badly dented the anti-corruption reputation he built upon entering office.

As France finalizes its full military withdrawal from West African nations, a move widely interpreted as a signal of its waning traditional influence across the African continent, Paris is launching a revised model of engagement with African nations at the two-day Africa Forward Summit kicking off Monday in Nairobi, Kenya. Co-hosted by France and Kenya, this gathering marks the first time France has held such a major Africa-focused summit in an English-speaking African nation, representing a deliberate strategic shift toward expanding ties with non-Francophone countries under a new framework billed as a ‘partnership of equals’.

For decades, France maintained a system of economic, political, and military dominance over its former African colonies, a network of influence widely known as Françafrique that included stationing thousands of French troops across the region. Growing criticism from African leaders and opposition movements, who decried the approach as condescending and overly interventionist, eventually forced Paris to pull back the bulk of its deployed forces from West Africa and the Sahel. Today, Paris is seeking to reframe its role on the continent through this new policy direction, with the recently ratified Kenya-France Defense Cooperation Agreement laying out the roadmap for its future engagement.

More than 30 heads of state and government from across Africa, including delegations from longstanding Francophone nations, are in attendance for the summit. Arriving in Kenya a day ahead of the summit’s official opening Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron sought to soften tensions with West African leaders who pushed for France’s military exit, noting that while Paris may hold policy disagreements with some West African governments, ‘never disagrees with the people.’

The new bilateral defense pact with Kenya, signed in October 2024 by Kenyan Defense Minister Soipan Tuya and French Ambassador to Kenya Arnaud Suquet, was ratified by Kenya’s national parliament on April 8 this year. That same month, Kenya also moved to ratify similar defense cooperation agreements with the Czech Republic, China, and Italy, part of the East African nation’s broader strategy of expanding multilateral security ties at a moment when many Sahel nations are expelling foreign military presences to reclaim full national sovereignty.

The defense agreement has not been without controversy, however. Kenyan civil society organizations have raised sharp criticism of provisions that grant French troops broad immunity from domestic Kenyan law for on-duty offenses, a provision that echoes controversial terms in a decades-long defense pact with the United Kingdom that has left multiple serious crimes committed by British personnel against Kenyan civilians difficult to prosecute. Most notably, the 2012 murder of 21-year-old Kenyan woman Agnes Wanjiru, who was last seen in the company of a British soldier near a UK training base in central Kenya’s Nanyuki, and the 2021 deadly Lolldaiga ranch fire linked to British military training activities, have become high-profile examples of the harms caused by these broad immunity clauses. It took more than a decade for Kenyan courts to order the extradition of the British soldier charged in Wanjiru’s killing, a process delayed for years by the legal protections in the UK-Kenya defense pact.

Defending the new agreement and Kenya’s broader strategy of security partnerships, Nelson Koech, chair of Kenya’s parliamentary defense committee, emphasized that the pacts with advanced militaries deliver tangible benefits: access to specialized military training and critical intelligence-sharing opportunities that will strengthen Kenya’s own national defense capabilities. Koech rejected claims that the agreements amount to a ‘surrender of sovereignty’, noting that updated provisions in the new pacts require foreign personnel to face Kenyan prosecution for serious violent offenses including murder. Even so, the immunity provision for most on-duty offenses remains unchanged, mirroring the controversial structure of the UK agreement. Roughly 800 French military personnel arrived in Kenya aboard a French navy ship one month ahead of the summit, the first deployment under the new defense cooperation framework.