Kenya and France are about to sign off on a landmark defence treaty as Paris seeks to deepen its influence in anglophone Africa and Nairobi attempts to diversify its defence partners.
In October last year the two countries signed a “defence cooperation agreement” which established a “structured framework for enhanced collaboration between the two nations in key areas, including intelligence sharing, maritime security, peacekeeping, training and humanitarian assistance.”
Their announcement noted that the agreement cemented “a long-standing partnership rooted in shared commitments to peace, stability and security”.
The agreement is now set to be upgraded to an expansive defence treaty between Paris and Nairobi, suggesting a further deepening of military relations into a more formal, broad and long-term strategic partnership.
While full details of the treaty are still to emerge, the early indications are that it will include French training programmes for the Kenyan army, a further strengthening of maritime security cooperation, and the holding of joint exercises between the Kenyan and French militaries.
France’s anglophone tilt
This development comes at a time when France is committing considerable diplomatic energy to strengthening its relationships in anglophone Africa. This has partly been motivated by the severe decline of France’s influence in its former African colonies – known as Françafrique – in recent years.
Military coups in the Sahel, including in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, have led to the expulsion of French troops and the cancellation of long-standing military agreements.
In many cases, these coups have been driven by explicit anti-French sentiment as a result of France’s perceived remnants of colonial control. This includes the use of the CFA franc in 14 Francophone countries in West and Central Africa: using the currency requires former colonies to deposit at least 50% of their foreign reserves with the French Treasury in Paris.
This geopolitical instability has partly contributed to the declining success of French corporations in Françafrique, with banks, for example, significantly scaling back their presence in these markets.
As a result, France’s President Emmanuel Macron has sought to establish stronger ties in African countries where the relationship is untainted by shared colonial history. In May a France-Africa Summit will be held in Nairobi, while in May 2024 Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu visited France on a two-day state visit, the first such trip undertaken by a Nigerian leader in 20 years.
This stronger emphasis on anglophone Africa is also driven by economic considerations, with France’s two biggest trading partners on the continent being Nigeria and South Africa.
Douglas Yates, a professor of political science at the American Graduate School in Paris and an expert in France-Africa relations, tells African Business that the France-Kenya military deal is “part of the French effort to expand out of its traditional pré-carré [territory] in former French colonies” to what has been called “Afrique utile” – that is, “useful Africa”.
“Just as French military presence has become increasingly unwelcome in those countries where it had a long and intense relationship during the Cold War, it has become increasingly welcome in countries where England once ruled,” Yates adds.
Counter-terrorism advantages
The defence deal has not been entirely welcomed domestically in Kenya. Concerns have been raised that French forces are set to be given diplomatic-style privileges, which would mean French soldiers convicted of crimes in Kenya would not have to serve their sentences in the country.
The Kenyan government is keen, however, to leverage deeper ties with France as a way to diversify from a dependence on its traditional military partners – the United Kingdom and United States – while promoting stronger trading ties. The European Union was Kenya’s biggest export destination in 2023, with 13.6% of its total exports heading to Europe, and its second-largest trading partner overall.
France’s military experience in Kenya could also prove useful to Nairobi as it seeks to manage key security threats, such as from terrorist group Al-Shabaab which operates in neighbouring Somalia.
Indeed, Yates notes that “France has a great deal of experience in military interventions on the African continent,” with that experience including “intervention operations, counterinsurgency missions, combat support operations, peacekeeping interpositions, peace security operations, and noncombatant evacuations conducted under the French tricolore.”