In a visit to Kenya, presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Uhuru Kenyatta announced a series of public-private infrastructure deals on Wednesday, coming to a grand total of over 3 billion euros (340 billion Kenyan shillings). This is coming just after Donald Trump’s (President of the United States) plan to slash its aid budget to Kenya, became public news. When one door shuts, another always opens.
This is the first time a French Head of State has visited the prestigious East African Nation.
Among the contracts between French companies and Kenya is the planned construction of a railway line from the traffic-congested capital Nairobi to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, a trip of about 20 kilometres that can take up to two hours by car sometimes.
The railway, President Uhuru Kenyatta said, “will help completely transform the lives of millions of urban workers”. It should be operational by 2021.
Kenya is the French President’s third stop in East Africa, having first visited Djibouti and Ethiopia. This is part of the French president’s plan to offer “respectful” partnerships in the face of the region’s growing indebtedness to China who is fast expanding its foothold on the continent.
President Macron said France wants trade and commercial relationships that are “much more fair and profitable for the Kenyan people,” he further added that the best kind of investment was one that respected the receiving country’s sovereignty and was “sustainable.”
France and Kenya are also negotiating a contract for 1.6 billion euros (181.4 billion Kenyan Shillings) to improve a highway from Nairobi northwest to Mau, a busy stretch of road for passengers and freight that is among the country’s deadliest as well.
Looking to strengthen economic, military, and cultural ties in East Africa, Macron on Tuesday also offered “respectful partnership” to Djibouti, heavily-indebted to China for infrastructure project loans.
“I would not want international investments to weaken the sovereignty of our partners,” Macron told Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh.
In Ethiopia, he announced a defence agreement in which France will loan 85 million euros to Ethiopia to support the establishment of a navy for the landlocked country.
CLIMATE CHANGE
On Thursday, French president Emmanuel Macron, challenged delegates attending the One Planet Summit in Kenya, to take action beyond words, as far as tackling climate change is concerned.
The French President said, “We need to put biodiversity at the heart of each of our actions. We make new commitments and invent a new model together. Thank you for this One Planet Summit in Africa”
President Uhuru Kenyatta, pledged to aim for an estimate of 10 percent forest cover, as a target for curbing climate change and addressing de-forestation.
“Today we are here to make pledges, today we are here to make commitments, and on behalf of Kenya, our government and our people, I am pledging by 2022, we want to reach a minimum of 10 percent forest cover in our country as a way of ensuring we play our part in combating climate change,” he further said.
During his visit to East Africa on Tuesday, Rwanda invited Macron to attend the 25th anniversary of the country’s 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 of its citizens.
Rwandan authorities have long accused France of complicity in the massacre.
The French President has not indicated whether he will attend the event on April 7 in the capital. If he accepts, Macron will become only the second French president to visit the country since the genocide, which still poisons relations between the two nations.
