Emmanuel Macron has called for greater investment in Africa, arguing that the continent needs economic opportunities rather than traditional aid to achieve greater sovereignty and development.
Speaking on Monday at the University of Nairobi during a co-hosted economic summit in Kenya, Macron said Africa “needs investment to become more sovereign,” stressing a shift away from donor-led assistance models.
Addressing African leaders and stakeholders in French, he noted that past approaches in which European leaders dictated development priorities were outdated.
“Previously, European chiefs would lecture African leaders on what they needed, but this is no longer what Africa needs or wants to hear,” he said.
Macron added that Europe itself no longer has the financial capacity to sustain aid-driven models in the same way as before.
Ahead of the summit, in an interview with Jeune Afrique and The Africa Report, the French President said he had strongly condemned colonialism when he took office in 2017, but warned against attributing Africa’s current challenges solely to its colonial past.
“We must not exonerate from all responsibility the seven decades that followed independence,” he said, calling for stronger governance from African leaders.
He argued that former colonial powers such as France and the United Kingdom were no longer the dominant external influence on the continent.
Macron insisted that Europe continues to support international order, multilateralism, and free trade, contrasting this with rising global economic competition.
He also criticised the United States and China, saying both are engaged in trade practices that disregard global rules, while accusing China of pursuing a “predatory logic” in critical minerals and rare earth processing.
According to him, China’s approach creates long-term dependency for other countries by centralising value-added processing domestically.
Macron said Europe’s approach instead promotes “strategic autonomy” for both Europe and Africa, aimed at strengthening mutual economic resilience.
A key focus of the summit, he noted, is reforming global financial systems to unlock private investment through improved guarantees and risk-sharing mechanisms.
On security issues, Macron addressed France’s military withdrawal from parts of the Sahel, including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, following coups in those countries between 2020 and 2023.
He said France had acted in response to requests from host governments to help combat jihadist insurgencies, but withdrew once its presence was no longer welcome.
“That wasn’t a humiliation but a logical response to a given situation,” he said.
Macron added that he believes the Sahel region will eventually return to democratic governance under leaders who are genuinely committed to public welfare.
“A new era is about to start,” he said, expressing optimism about long-term political stability in the region.
