France turns to Nairobi, taps India and Germany in Africa reset

President William Ruto of Kenya (right) shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron at a past event.

Photo credit: PCS

France is turning to East Africa, with Nairobi in particular seen as a strategic lifeline, in the wake of its humiliating retreats from the Sahel region.

The diplomatic shift follows a cascade of military coups and anti-colonial backlash in its former colonies that shattered Paris’s long-standing influence.