00:00French President Emmanuel Macron kicked off a visit to Kenya on Sunday ahead of the Africa Forward Summit,
00:06a gathering meant to showcase France's new policy for the continent.
00:10The summit is expected to draw reactions to the withdrawal of French troops from West Africa that was completed last
00:16year.
00:17Let's remember that since the independence of France's former African colonies,
00:22France had maintained a policy of economic, political and military sway,
00:26which included keeping thousands of troops in the region.
00:30In this context, Kenya and President William Bruto said both leaders expect the summit to be a turning point toward
00:36a better partnership,
00:37while Macron commented on the changing geopolitical landscape,
00:41saying France can disagree with West African governments but never disagrees with the people.
00:46The two-day summit, which starts on Monday, is expected to welcome 30 heads of states.
00:57We believe that Africa is a continent, and that this continent has a great deal to build.
01:02It is the youngest in the world. It therefore has an extraordinary demographic dividend.
01:07It is the region with the highest growth in the world last year, its growth rate was slightly higher than
01:12that of Southeast Asia,
01:14and so we need to view it in a completely different light.
01:17And indeed, this is a continent that I no longer want France to view as its own private domain,
01:22where business leaders would, in a sense, have all the rights or have all contracts guaranteed to them,
01:28simply because it was Francophone Africa, or where some people felt that France provided a form of guaranteed security,
01:34come what may, by being there to make, or break governments.
01:38That is over. Since 2017, that era has come to an end.
Comments