00:00The French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday arrived in Kenya for the Africa Forward Summit,
00:06a meeting aimed at representing France's new approach to Africa.
00:10Paris says it wants to move away from the image of a former colonial power
00:14and build what it calls a partnership of equals with the continent.
00:19The summit is being held for the first time in an Anglophone country.
00:23It also comes after France completed the withdrawal of its troops from West Africa last year
00:28against the backdrop of declining French influence in the region.
00:32For decades after independence in its former African colonists,
00:36France maintains strong economic, political and military influence
00:39in a system widely known as Franc-Afrique, including a long-standing troop presence.
00:45But leaders and opposition figures across the region
00:47have often accused Paris of taking a heavy-handed and demeaning approach.
00:52The two-day summit begins on Monday.
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