France's Influence in Africa Declining Under Macron, Report Claims

HARARE, May 15. /TASS/. President Emmanuel Macron’s administration has been marked by France’s daily loss of influence in Africa, the Actu Cameroun reported.

According to the news outlet, the recent Africa Forward summit in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi is a prime example of this decline. The article noted that with Macron’s rise to power, relations with some African leaders have become more distant, while others are no longer invited at all. Paris has definitively shifted its focus away from linguistic, cultural, and historical ties and toward economic gain alone. In Nairobi, Macron promised Africa approximately $25 billion in investments over the next decade, $10 billion of which must come from the continent’s countries.

Actu Cameroun emphasized that Macron constantly attacks the leaders of the Alliance of Sahel States - Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso - who have decided to free themselves from neocolonial oppression, while courting the continent’s English-speaking nations. In his relations with Africa, Macron does not intend to deal solely with the presidents of the continent’s nations. Thus, France, unable to dictate its will to African authorities, intends to act through civil society and entrepreneurs. At the same time, the news outlet pointed out that France’s trade with Africa is declining and that French entrepreneurs are losing ground to Chinese companies in the competitive arena, resulting in a shrinking presence on the continent. In the 1970s, France held a 15% share of markets in sub-Saharan Africa; today, that figure stands at around 3%.