French President Emmanuel Macron with other African heads of state during the closing ceremony of the “Africa Forward” Summit 2026 at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), in Nairobi, Kenya, May 12, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing backlash after he interrupted a panel at the Africa Forward Summit in Kenya to demand silence from the audience.

Mr. Macron stormed the stage to rebuke audience members for what he called a “total lack of respect”, accusing them of disrupting speakers during a presentation by artists and young entrepreneurs. He had earlier described himself as a “Pan-Africanist” during a news conference.

The summit is meant to showcase France’s new policy for the continent — a shift from a former colonial power seen as dominating to what Paris describes as a partnership of equals.

On Tuesday (May 12, 2026) Mr. Macron announced a $27 billion investment into various sectors in Africa, including energy, artificial intelligence and agriculture.

Videos of Mr. Macron’s heated intervention on Monday (May 11, 2026) quickly spread across social media, drawing a mix of mockery, praise and criticism.

Appearing visibly frustrated by the noise in the room, Mr. Macron abruptly walked onto the stage and asked the speaker to hand him the microphone, saying he would “restore order”.

Addressing the audience in English, he criticized attendees for talking over the speakers and creating disruptions during the session.

Some audience members applauded the intervention, but Mr. Macron also drew criticism over his response.

“Just imagine what would happen if an African leader did the same thing in America or Europe,” said Mr. Thierno Mbaye, a history student at a university in Senegal’s capital, Dakar.

“He acted like a schoolteacher scolding children,” Mr. Mbaye told The Associated Press (AP).

The intervention also drew criticism in France.

“It’s stronger than him: as soon as he sets foot on the African continent, he can’t help but behave like a coloniser,” Mr. Danièle Obono, a lawmaker for the hard-left party France Unbowed, said in a post on X.

The Africa Forward Summit, which is set to close on Tuesday (May 12, 2026) with a declaration that is expected to be signed by all 30 heads of state, comes amid a fallout between France and its former colonies, mostly in West Africa.

France has long maintained a colonial policy of economic, political and military sway dubbed Françafrique, which included keeping thousands of troops in the region it controlled.

After years of criticism from leaders and opposition parties in many West African countries over what they described as a demeaning and heavy-handed approach, France has withdrawn most of its troops from the region. It completed the withdrawal of troops from Senegal in July.

Mr. Macron had already faced a backlash ahead of the summit for claiming Sunday (May 10, 2026) at news conference alongside Kenyan President William Ruto that “we are the true Pan-Africanists”.

“We believe that Africa is a continent, and that this continent has an enormous amount to build,” Mr. Macron said.

Pan-Africanism refers to an ideology seeking the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism. Given France’s colonial history across the continent, the remark went viral on social media and drew swift backlash.

“Pan Africanism is not a brand, Mr. Macron, neither is it a diplomatic posture,” Farida Nabourema, a Togolese human rights activist, said in an open letter on Monday (May 11, 2026).

“It is a political philosophy that said no to everything France spent three centuries saying yes to: slavery, colonialism and neocolonialism,” she added.

Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst at geopolitical risk consultancy Control Risks, said Mr. Macron is trying to distance France from its diplomatic and military setbacks in West Africa by turning to the east of the continent, signalling that its strategic priorities now follow where it finds goodwill.

She said Mr. Macron’s remarks were raising questions about whether France’s renewed engagement with Africa represented a genuine equal partnership or merely convenient rhetoric.

The French presidency and Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Paris will be respectful of each African country’s independence, Mr. Macron said on Tuesday (May 11, 2026) , adding that “sovereignty and autonomy is shared, and your success is our success”.

Inauthentic or politically manipulated Alioune Tine, founder of the Afrikajom Center think tank, said Mr. Macron’s remark might also be a subtle jab at Russia, which has replaced France as the main security partner in some West African countries.

“When Mr. Macron describes himself as the true’ pan-Africanist, it is also a subtle response to the pro-Russian pan-Africanist voices online, which French officials tend to view as inauthentic or politically manipulated,” Mr. Tine said.

He said relations between Western powers and African states are inherently paternalistic and France is no exception, but that Mr. Macron has shifted policy away from the colonial legacy through a more informal diplomatic style aimed at rebuilding trust.

According to an Ipsos survey conducted on behalf of the French Foreign Ministry in nine African countries ahead of the summit, 74% of respondents said they have a positive image of France. Support was highest in English-speaking countries and among respondents under 35.

Mr. Macron, who is the first French president born after the colonial era, had pledged after his first election in 2017 that he would reset French relations with Africa.

Published – May 13, 2026 04:18 pm IST

It’s been a tumultuous month for France and its relationship with former colonies in Africa, as its influence on the continent faces the biggest challenge in decades. As Paris devised a new Military strategy that would sharply reduce its permanent troop presence in Africa, two of its closest allies struck a double blow.

The Government of Chad, considered France’s most stable and loyal partner in Africa, announced on its Independence Day it was ending defense cooperation to redefine its sovereignty. Hours later, in an interview published by Le Monde, Senegal’s new president said it was “obvious” that soon French soldiers wouldn’t be on Senegalese soil.

“Just because the French have been here since the slavery period doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do otherwise,” President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said.

The announcements came as France was making efforts to revive its waning influence on the continent. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was completing a visit to Chad and Ethiopia, and President Emmanuel Macron for the first time had recognized the killing of as many as 400 West African soldiers by the French Army in 1944.

French authorities stayed silent for almost 24 hours after Chad’s announcement, finally saying they were in “close dialogue” on the future of the partnership.

“Chad’s decision marks the final nail in the coffin of France’s post-colonial Military dominance in the entire Sahel region,” said Mucahid Durmaz, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, referring to the arid region south of the Sahara.

The decisions by Senegal and Chad “are part of the wider structural transformation in the region’s engagement with France, in which Paris political and Military influence continues to diminish,” Mr. Durmaz added.

They follow the ousting of French forces in recent years by Military-led Governments in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, where local sentiments turned sour following years of French forces fighting alongside local ones in the face of stubborn Islamic extremist insurgencies.

Jean-Marie Bockel, Mr. Macron’s personal envoy for Africa, presented to Mr. Macron his report last month on the evolution of the French Military presence in Africa.

It was part of the “renewal of our partnership with African countries” that Mr. Macron announced in a 2017 speech in Burkina Faso in the early days of his presidency.

The details of Bockel’s report have not been made public. But three French top officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive talks with the concerned countries, said France aimed for a sharp reduction of its Military in all its bases in Africa except the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti — where Mr. Macron is expected to travel in the coming days.

The officials said it doesn’t mean France would necessarily reduce Military cooperation but instead would respond to countries’ needs. It could mean providing more specific training in airspace surveillance or drones and other aircraft. France could also deploy troops on a temporary basis.

The officials declined to confirm numbers of troop reductions but called it significant.

The French army earlier this year also set up a command for Africa, similar to the U.S. AFRICOM. Newly appointed commander Pascal Ianni specializes in influence and information warfare — a need highlighted by Russia’s growing presence in Africa.

“You can carry on your Military cooperation like many countries do. But the idea of having permanent Military bases, which then can be used as political ammunition against you and spun up in kind of a disinformation war, is maybe not the best way of going about things,” said Will Brown, a senior policy fellow at the European Center for Foreign Relations.

Meanwhile, France is trying to boost its economic presence in Africa’s anglophone countries like Nigeria, analysts said. Already, its two biggest trading partners on the continent are Nigeria and South Africa.

At the time of Chad’s announcement, Mr. Macron was hosting talks with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.

Since the independence of French colonies in Africa, France has maintained a policy of economic, political, and Military sway dubbed Françafrique, which included having thousands of permanent troops in the region. France still has 600 troops in Ivory Coast, 350 in Senegal and 350 in Gabon, as well as around 1,500 in Djibouti. It has had 1,000 troops in Chad.

France’s Defense Ministry said the role of French troops in Africa is to train local soldiers and reinforce their capacities to fight extremism, mainly in peacekeeping, intelligence, and logistics. But critics say keeping boots on the ground also has allowed Paris to retain influence and protect political regimes favorable to France.

“The countries of Francophone Africa want a change in the nature of this relationship,” said Gilles Yabi, head of the West Africa Citizen Think Tank.

Growing anti-French sentiment has led to street protests in several West and North African countries, while Governments that gained power on pledges of redefining relationships with the West say ties with France have not benefited the population. They want to explore options with Russia, China, Turkey and other powers.

Chad’s President Mahamat Deby “would not have made this decision if he did not have security guarantees from another actor,” Will Brown said. “We know he’s received serious support from the United Arab Emirates, who are very interested in what’s going on in neighboring Sudan and Darfur. We know that Turkey also made some outreach.”

Chad borders four countries with a Russian Military presence. Mr. Deby traveled to Moscow in January to reinforce relations with the “partner country.”

Military leaders of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso who expelled the French Military have moved closer to Russia, which has mercenaries deployed across the Sahel who have been accused of abuses against civilians.

But the security situation has worsened in those countries, with increasing numbers of extremist attacks and civilian deaths from both armed groups and Government forces. Over the first six months of this year, 3,064 civilians were killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a 25% increase over the previous six months.

It is impossible to say whether the departure of French forces led to the increased violence. But it created a “huge security vacuum,” said analyst Shaantanu Shankar with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), adding that Russia cannot fill it. Troops from the Russian private Military company Wagner are being financed by the junta Governments with fewer financial resources, he said.