President Emmanuel Macron’s Nairobi summit—France’s first in an English-speaking African nation—underscored just how far Paris has fallen. Once the unchallenged power broker in Francophone West and Central Africa, France now faces military ejections from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, deepening anti-French resentment, and a pivot toward Russian mercenaries.

The $27 billion investment pledge and talk of “sovereign equality” could not mask the humiliation: Macron stormed a youth panel to scold the audience, then declared himself a “true Pan-Africanist,” triggering ridicule across social media. Even Kenya, France’s new hope, recently scrapped a major French highway contract in favor of a Chinese rival. With its colonial-era currency and fading military bases, France is no longer setting terms—it is begging for relevance.

The summit proved less a revival than a public admission that Paris has hit rock bottom, scrambling for partners who now dictate the rules of engagement.

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