French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking in Nairobi during a two-day economic summit, defended Europe’s role in Africa while contrasting it with China’s growing influence across the continent.
In an interview with Jeune Afrique and The Africa Report, Macron said he openly condemned colonialism after taking office in 2017, but argued that Africa’s modern challenges cannot be blamed solely on the colonial era.
“We must not absolve the seven decades since independence of responsibility,” Macron said, urging African leaders to strengthen governance and accountability.
While former colonial powers such as France and the U.K. continue to face criticism across Africa, Macron insisted they are not “the predators of this century.”
“Europe defends the international order, effective multilateralism, the rule of law, free and open trade,” he was quoted as saying.
By contrast, the United States and China were locked in a trade standoff with little respect for international rules, he added.
On critical minerals and rare earths, Macron said China “operates according to a predatory logic: it does the processing at home” and creates “dependencies with the rest of the world.”
Macron, who is leading a two-day summit aimed at renewing France’s engagement with Africa after years of strained ties with its former colonies, said Europe was instead promoting “a strategy of autonomy” for both continents.
Central to transforming Africa’s fortunes should be an overhaul of international finance to establish a system of financial guarantees capable of attracting private investment, he added.
France withdrew its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger after military leaders in each country seized power between 2020 and 2023.
Asked about the juntas, Macron said: “I’m convinced that we must let these states and their leaders, even putschists, chart their own course.”
But he defended France’s military presence in the Sahel region, saying it had been requested to combat the jihadist threat.
“When our presence was no longer wanted after the coups, we left,” he said. “That wasn’t a humiliation but a logical response to a given situation.”
“A new era is about to start. The Sahel will one day regain normal governance,” with democratically elected leaders who “genuinely care about their people,” he added.
