The 2026 Africa Forward Summit held in Kenya from May 11 – 12. A good 30 African heads of government were in attendance including Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu. Kenyan President, William Ruto, the man who imagines himself as the best English speaker out of Africa, and French President Emmanuel Macron, were co-hosts of the two-day summit. The summit was essentially to keep Africa and France glued in an alliance that chiefly favours France.

Over the years, France has stomped Francophone Africa, exploiting the continent’s mineral deposits and appropriating same as part of its patrimony. Afterall, France colonized them. In appreciation, they must appease France, in much the same way Africans, especially traditional worshippers, appease their deities. France is an African deity nestled in Europe. Yes, seems more like it.

Bear in mind that France is the colonial overlord of Francophone countries in Africa, their lord and master. Macron and preceding French leaders have maintained a master-slave relationship with these Francophone nations. They are more submissive to France than the Anglophone countries are to the United Kingdom, another feudal colonial overlord that rates itself as god over its vassal states – Commonwealth nations.

Well, that was before the emergence of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Its creation was a circumstantial birth. A rage against hell, almost. The AES triumvirate was born on September 16, 2023. Not an old baby, but a child who grew teeth while in her mother’s womb. Its birth was spawn by the coup in Niger Republic, one of Nigeria’s neighbours. At that time, Mali and Burkina Faso were neck deep into their new ‘sovereignty’ delivered via military putsch. Both had already cut off France from accessing their huge mineral deposits and agricultural produce once handed over to France by their dethroned leaders for peanuts. So, when a military coup occurred in Niger on July 26, 2023, it was easy to add Niger to their colony of coup nations. To achieve the Niger coup, members of the Presidential Guard detained the deposed President Mohamed Bazoum. They seized power and suspended the constitution. That marked a new push by the three AES nations to reset their diplomatic dalliance with France. They severed themselves from ECOWAS by early 2025.

This marked a new beginning for France-Africa relations. The three nations simply shoved France aside in the most brutal expression of their revulsion for France and what it stands for. By that burst of courage, the AES nations entered another era of sovereignty inside a sovereignty. It was a masterstroke in France-Africa diplomacy. To rub it in and show proof that France had been more of a leech than a lover, they moved quickly to please their citizens, offering them opportunities and building infrastructure which their thieving predecessors failed to do. They also got new lovers. China, Russia, et al, became their latest suitors. And how they love the cuddle. In diplomatic circle, this was said to have pushed France into the umbra of envy. And it got Macron singing a new song, an entirely new note. Macron now sees Africa as Partners. Whew! Just like that? Can somebody tell Mr. Macron that partnership is not a slogan, but earned relationship rooted in respect for all members of the partnership. At a pre-summit news conference alongside Ruto, Macron even waxed hysterical with his “we are the true Pan-Africanists” statement. Not sure what Macron wanted to achieve with this new song on pan-Africanism. But if he ever thought this would get France back into the good book of Africans, he simply misfired, misjudged, and I dare say, misread the dashboard. It has since turned from green to amber, and now crimson red for France. The reality is that Francophone Africa is no longer trusting France. And they feel they can fling France aside, completely out of their way. Just like the AES nations who now have a semblance of control over their destiny, resources and whatever they hold dear to themselves.

This represents a shift in diplomacy, sovereignty and respect for the rights of the people. The losers in this new diplomatic alliance among the AES nations are France and Macron. The obvious winners are the AES nations, Russia, China and the new friends that have held out their hands to Francophone Africa.

Now, you get the drift when Macron sparked controversy on Monday after he abruptly halted a youth-focused session at the Summit, took the microphone from a speaker and publicly rebuked attendees for talking over on-stage presenters, and accusing them of showing “a total lack of respect”.

During this particular session themed: Creation in Motion”, artists and young entrepreneurs were speaking before an audience that included heads of state, diplomats and business leaders. Already, Africa has established itself as a creative force with Nigeria leading the platoon of creatives. Many quarrel with the manner Macron interrupted the speaker just to instill order in the hall. Like a headmaster addressing his pupils; or a class prefect verbally and indirectly telling his classmates that they are unruly. An enraged Macron was seen telling those noise-makers inside the hall that their action was a “total lack of respect.” And he was right.

While some Africans called out Macron for his ‘rude’ interruption of that session, I disagree. Macron was right to do what he did. When adults resort to playing in the sand like infants, you treat them like infants. Let’s get the context right. Inside that hall were no fewer than 30 African heads of government, business moguls, technocrats and youths from the creative fraternity. They all came into Nairobi to discuss Africa’s future, make a pitch to the investing global community there present and all they could offer was the traditional noise over serious matters. This is absolute disrespect to the speakers on stage who were interrupted, to Africans who dream of a better future, to the heads of government (who may even be part of the colony of noise-makers).  Which ever way you look at it, Africans disrespected Africa. But why are Africans so addicted to clatter and chatter. Why are they always at home with noise, loud music, boisterous ambience and such like.

At international conferences, African stands are the loudest. Africans do the most shopping; are more likely to dissolve into town for any form of rendezvous than take part in the conference that brought them to that country. They say, to know where Africans (Nigerians especially) are at an international conference, follow the noise. Whether he acted like a village headmaster yelling down at his pupils, Macron was right to rebuke the African leaders and those involved in the niggling din inside the hall while speakers were on stage. This is a typical African thing. Noise and Africa are inseparable. This also explains why Africa still lives in a distant past when the rest of the world are exploring outer space and engineering solutions to solve the myriad challenges facing humanity. While not believing that Macron has been a good friend of Africa, I support him for rebuking Africans for talking over Africans at what was supposed to be a critical, economically strategic summit.