Did the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi mark the end of Europe’s paternalism toward Africa? With €23 billion in new commitments, joint chairing on African soil, and business at the centre of talks, analyst Joseph McCarthy argues the old script may finally be changing—but warns that partnership without concrete industrialization remains just rhetoric.

Read the full analysis below.

Africa Forward: Is Europe Finally Learning to Treat Africa as an Equal Partner?

By Joseph McCarthy

For decades, Africa’s summits with external powers have followed a familiar script. African leaders fly to Paris, Brussels, Washington, Beijing, Moscow or New Delhi; their hosts roll out the red carpet, deliver speeches about partnership, announce ambitious initiatives and pose for the customary family photograph. Communiqués are issued, declarations adopted, and everyone returns home—yet little changes. Investment gaps stay wide, trade stays lopsided, industrialisation crawls, and Africa keeps exporting raw materials while importing finished goods.

That is why the Africa Forward Summit, held in Nairobi on 11 and 12 May 2026, deserves attention; not because Africa needs another summit, but because it signals a possible shift in how Europe, and France in particular, sees the relationship. The symbolism was hard to miss. For the first time, a summit between Africa and France was jointly chaired on African soil with an anglophone African state. President William Ruto of Kenya and President Emmanuel Macron of France stood not as host and guest, but as partners on the same platform. Africa was not summoned to Europe; Europe was invited to Africa. Yet symbolism is not changed. Nairobi will matter only if equality and genuine reciprocity outlast the communiqué.

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The more telling shift was in the cast. Summits between Africa and Europe have long belonged to presidents, diplomats and development agencies, with the private sector seated politely at the back. This time, business sat at the centre. The Inspire and Connect forum gathered heads of state alongside scores of African and French company chiefs to discuss industrialisation, value chains, energy and human capital. The message was blunt: the future should rest less on aid and charity between states, and more on investment, entrepreneurship and industrial partnership. African governments no longer seek the role of recipients; they want capital, technology, expertise and market access. Where old summits asked what Europe could do for Africa, this one asked a sharper question: what can African and European firms build together?
There were numbers to match the rhetoric: roughly €23 billion, about $27 billion, in fresh commitments, comprising some €14 billion from French public and private actors and €9 billion from African investors, aimed at energy, digital technology, artificial intelligence, agriculture, health and industry. More striking than the figures was the emphasis. French and European firms voiced interest in investing and producing alongside African companies inside Africa, rather than merely selling into its markets. The most concrete example came from Nigeria, where Accor and the African energy and infrastructure group Shoreline signed a letter of intent for the country’s first national hotel platform: a $300 million project of ten hotels across eight cities, more than 1,200 rooms by 2030, with a training academy to build local skills.

If such partnerships multiply across manufacturing, agriculture, energy, health and digital technology, Africa could enter a new phase of competition. Unlike the scramble of the nineteenth century, driven by extraction and conquest, this one would turn on investment, production, and market opportunities, with Europe, China, the Gulf, India, and Türkiye all competing for a seat at the table. African governments may be better placed than ever to play these suitors against one another in their own interest. The question is no longer who claims to be Africa’s best friend, but who will invest, produce, transfer technology and create jobs.

Here lies the lesson Africa keeps relearning: a good partner is not the one you like most, but the one who brings you the most advantage. France’s history on the continent is singular, not because of a colonisation now decades past, but because the relationship that followed it never truly ended. Several capitals took the easy road, leaning on Paris for their security and quietly surrendering a slice of their sovereignty, while Paris was content to play suzerain. In 2013, Mali hailed France as its saviour when French troops drove back the jihadists closing on Bamako; a few years later, its junta cast that same France as worse than the seven plagues of Egypt. Such incestuous, melodramatic attachments had to end. External powers are neither saviours nor devils; they are partners pursuing their interests, as African states pursue theirs.

That is why Africa can no longer tolerate the old arrangements: military protectorates dressed up as protection; the abuses of foreign mercenaries in its conflict zones; or the economic colonisation that surrenders strategic assets, ports, airports, and railways to whichever state writes the cheque. The withdrawals from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger were not merely a rejection of France; they marked the exhaustion of a framework inherited from colonial times that no longer fits African aspirations. If Nairobi means anything, it is that Paris may finally grasp that the age of the suzerain is over. France matters here for one further reason: it is a gateway to the wider European market. Should its approach shift from paternalism to brokering business between African and European firms, that would be welcome news for both continents.

Under One African Sky: Xenophobia, Historical Memory, and the Erosion of Pan-African Brotherhood | Colonel Augustine Ansu Rtd

Africa’s most urgent task is economic transformation. With millions of young people entering the labour market each year, the world needs productive capital, industry, technology transfer, and jobs; aid alone has never delivered these. What it seeks now is straightforward: investment without domination, cooperation without dependency, partnership without paternalism. Like Saint Thomas, Africans will believe what they eventually see rather than what they are promised. The elegance of its communiqué will not judge the summit, but by visible progress: in artificial intelligence, where Africa must become a creator and not merely a consumer; in infrastructure, the roads, railways, ports, power and connectivity that carry an economy; in food systems, through higher local output and lighter dependence on imports; and in industry, the move beyond raw exports toward manufacturing and value addition.

History will not remember what was promised in Nairobi. It will remember what was built, what was transformed, and what was delivered. Until then, Africa will watch carefully.

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Joseph McCarthy is an analyst and researcher specialising in governance, security, and political transitions in the Sahel. He writes on geopolitics, development, and African diplomacy. Email: joecarthy30@gmail.com

The recurring outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa has once again forced a painful question upon the continent: Has Africa forgotten its own history of solidarity?

In this opinion piece, Colonel Augustine Ansu (Rtd) examines the troubling narratives used to justify attacks on fellow Africans — from complaints about jobs and businesses to the claim that anti-apartheid exiles were not granted unrestricted integration. He argues that such arguments rest on a historically flawed understanding of continental sacrifice. Drawing on the legacy of nations like Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, and Angola that provided sanctuary and support to South Africa’s liberation struggle, Ansu asks whether the spirit of Pan-African brotherhood can survive economic anxiety, political rhetoric, and the erosion of historical memory.

This is a call not merely to condemn xenophobia, but to recover the solidarity that once made strangers into comrades.

Read the full opinion piece below.

Under One African Sky: Xenophobia, Historical Memory, and the Erosion of Pan-African Brotherhood

By Colonel Augustine Ansu Rtd

The recurring outbreaks of xenophobic violence in South Africa continue to trouble the conscience of Africa.

Each episode raises difficult questions about citizenship, economic competition, national identity, and the future of Pan-African solidarity.

Recent events, including the evacuation of foreign nationals and the debates that have followed, have once again brought these issues into sharp focus.

What is perhaps most disturbing is not merely the violence itself, but the narratives increasingly used to justify it.

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In a recent media interview, a South African citizen reportedly questioned why foreigners should be allowed to settle so freely in South Africa.

He argued that during the anti-apartheid struggle, South African exiles lived in camps in neighbouring countries and were not permitted unrestricted integration into host societies.

He further complained that foreigners were taking jobs, businesses, and even girlfriends from South Africans.

Such arguments deserve careful examination.

The comparison between anti-apartheid exiles and present-day African migrants is historically flawed.

South Africans who fled apartheid were not merely housed in refugee camps. Across the continent, they benefited from the generosity and sacrifice of fellow Africans.

Nations such as Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, Angola, and many others provided sanctuary, education, military training, diplomatic support, and political platforms from which the struggle against apartheid could be waged.

African governments and peoples embraced the South African cause as a continental cause. Their support was not based upon narrow calculations of national advantage but upon a profound belief that the freedom of one African people was inseparable from the freedom of all.

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That history makes contemporary hostility towards fellow Africans especially painful.

Equally revealing is the complaint that foreigners are taking local girlfriends. Such rhetoric has little to do with immigration policy and much to do with insecurity, resentment, and the search for convenient scapegoats.

Throughout history, xenophobic movements have often been fuelled by claims that outsiders are taking what rightfully belongs to citizens—jobs, opportunities, homes, culture, and relationships.

These narratives are powerful because they simplify complex social problems into emotionally satisfying explanations. Yet they rarely lead to solutions.

The roots of social unrest are usually found elsewhere: unemployment, poverty, inequality, corruption, inadequate education, weak governance, and the failure of economic growth to improve the lives of ordinary citizens. When these problems persist, public frustration seeks an outlet. Foreigners become convenient targets because they are visible, vulnerable, and politically expendable.

Yet many immigrants contribute significantly to the South African economy. They establish businesses, create employment, provide essential services, and participate in commercial activities that sustain local communities. Like migrants throughout history, they seek opportunity, security, and a better future for their families.

Against this backdrop, the decision by some African governments to evacuate their citizens deserves thoughtful consideration.

Every government has a sacred duty to protect its nationals. When there is credible concern for their safety, prudence demands action.

Governments cannot wait for tragedy to occur before responding. Their first responsibility is not the preservation of diplomatic appearances but the protection of human life.

This explains why many Africans have viewed suggestions that governments should have delayed evacuation efforts with understandable scepticism.

While such opinions may stem from concerns about national image or fears of creating panic, they must be weighed against the immediate responsibility to safeguard citizens facing uncertainty and possible danger.

Equally troubling are reports that xenophobic attacks sometimes occur in the presence of law enforcement officers who appear unable or unwilling to intervene decisively.

Whether such perceptions are entirely accurate or not, they contribute significantly to fear among foreign communities.

When perpetrators believe that consequences are unlikely, violence becomes easier to organise and repeat.

Some observers have suggested that these developments reflect a broader political agenda. Others see them as spontaneous eruptions of public frustration. Whatever the explanation, history demonstrates that xenophobia seldom emerges in isolation. It thrives where economic anxiety, political rhetoric, weak institutions, and social frustration converge.

The tragedy extends beyond immigration policy.

It concerns the future of Pan-Africanism itself.

The generation that fought apartheid inspired the world with its vision of justice, reconciliation, human dignity, and non-racialism.

South Africa became a symbol of hope, proving that even the deepest divisions could be overcome through courage, sacrifice, and leadership.

Today, many Africans struggle to reconcile that inspiring legacy with recurring images of fellow Africans being harassed, assaulted, or forced to flee.

They remember a time when the continent stood united against apartheid and wonder how the descendants of those who benefited from continental solidarity can now regard fellow Africans as unwelcome intruders.

These are uncomfortable questions, but they cannot be ignored.

Can Africans continue to speak of continental unity while fellow Africans are treated as outsiders?

Can the sacrifices made during the liberation struggles be honoured while the spirit of brotherhood that sustained those struggles is gradually eroded?

Can Pan-Africanism survive if economic hardship repeatedly transforms neighbours into enemies?

History offers a sobering lesson. Nations rarely prosper by directing their anger towards convenient scapegoats. Sustainable progress is achieved through economic reform, effective governance, educational opportunity, social cohesion, and unwavering commitment to the rule of law.

The future of Africa will not be secured through exclusion and suspicion. It will be secured through cooperation, mutual respect, and a renewed recognition of our shared destiny.

For the struggle against colonialism and apartheid was never simply a political struggle. It was also a moral declaration that the dignity of one African is bound to the dignity of all Africans.

That declaration remains as relevant today as it was yesterday.

Epilogue: Under One African Sky

The African sky knows no borders.

The winds that cross the Limpopo do not carry passports; the rivers that flow to the sea recognize no tribe. The rains that nourish the veld, the savannah, and the forest make no distinction between native and stranger.

Yet man, who inherited one continent and one destiny, has learned to build walls where history built bridges and to sow suspicion where our forebears planted solidarity.

The challenge before Africa is therefore not merely to defeat xenophobia. It is to recover the brotherhood that once made strangers into comrades and neighbours into family.

For when one African is hunted because he is foreign, all Africa is diminished. When one African is denied dignity because of his origin, the dream of Pan-Africanism suffers a wound. And when fear triumphs over fraternity, the sacrifices of those who fought for Africa’s liberation fade a little further into the shadows.

Let us remember that before colonial frontiers were drawn, before passports were stamped, before flags were raised, the peoples of Africa shared the same sun, the same rivers, the same hopes, and often the same blood.

May wisdom prevail over anger, justice over prejudice, and fraternity over fear.

Then perhaps future generations will inherit an Africa in which no man is hated for the place of his birth, no woman is threatened because of her nationality, and no child grows up believing that another African is an enemy.

For above us all stretches the same vast African sky — silent, enduring, and waiting for its children to remember that they are one.

Article by Nana Afua Adutwumwaa Adjetey, Program Manager, Ghana Clubfoot Program (CHAG–Hope Walks Ghana)

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As Ghana joins the global community to commemorate World Clubfoot Day on June 3, there is an important story that deserves national attention.

It is the story of thousands of Ghanaian children who have been given the opportunity to walk, run, play, attend school, and pursue their dreams because they received treatment for clubfoot.
It is also the story of many other children who continue to miss that opportunity because of delayed diagnosis, stigma, misinformation, and lack of awareness.

Clubfoot is one of the most common congenital disabilities affecting children worldwide. It is a condition present at birth in which one or both feet are twisted inward and downward. If left untreated, a child may face lifelong challenges with walking, education, employment, and social inclusion.

Yet clubfoot is also one of the most treatable childhood disabilities.
When identified early and treated correctly, children born with clubfoot can live healthy, active, and productive lives.

A Hidden Challenge Affecting Hundreds of Ghanaian Families

In Ghana, an estimated 1,000 babies are born with clubfoot every year.

Many of these children are born into families who have never heard of the condition. Others are born in communities where myths, misconceptions, and stigma still surround childhood disabilities.

Some parents are told their child will eventually “grow out of it.”
Others are encouraged to seek traditional remedies before medical care.
In some cases, families hide affected children for fear of judgment and discrimination.

Unfortunately, these delays come at a cost.
Clubfoot treatment is most effective when started soon after birth. Every week and month of delay can make treatment more difficult and increase the risk of long-term disability.

The Cases We Meet Every Day
Across our clubfoot clinics in Ghana, we meet families whose stories reveal the challenges that still exist.

We meet mothers who travel long distances after hearing about treatment through a friend, church member, radio programme, or social media post.
We meet caregivers who have spent months searching for answers because they did not know where to go for help.
We meet children who arrive years after birth because no one identified the condition early enough.

Most concerning, we continue to encounter situations where clubfoot was not recognised at birth or families were not informed that treatment was available.

Many parents tell us they were never referred. Others say they were unaware clubfoot could be treated at all.
These experiences remind us that awareness remains one of the greatest barriers to eliminating disability caused by clubfoot.

The Good News: Treatment Works; And It Is Free

Despite these challenges, there is tremendous reason for hope.

The Ghana Clubfoot Program, implemented by the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) in partnership with Hope Walks, has been transforming lives since 2008.

Most importantly, treatment is provided completely free of charge for children under five years of age at CHAG–Hope Walks partner clinics across Ghana.
No child should be denied the opportunity to walk because of a family’s inability to pay.

Over the past 18 years, more than 9,000 children born with clubfoot have received treatment and care through the programme.
That means more than 9,000 children now have the opportunity to walk with confidence, attend school, participate in sports, and live productive lives.

Behind every number is a story:
A child who can now run with friends.
A student who can walk to school.
A parent whose fears have been replaced with hope.
A family whose future has been transformed.

The treatment follows the internationally recognised Ponseti Method, which uses a series of gentle casts to gradually correct the position of the foot, followed by a brace to maintain correction and prevent relapse.
When treatment begins early, success rates are extremely high.

These successes demonstrate a simple but powerful truth:
Clubfoot is treatable. Treatment is available. And treatment is free.

The Critical Role of Health Professionals
World Clubfoot Day is also an opportunity to celebrate the dedication of health professionals who change lives every day.

Midwives, nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, orthopaedic specialists, community health nurses, and Parent Advisors all play a vital role in ensuring children receive treatment early.

For many children, the journey begins with a health worker who identifies clubfoot at birth and makes a referral.
A few moments of observation can change the course of a child’s life forever.

We therefore encourage all healthcare professionals to make clubfoot screening part of every newborn assessment and to ensure every identified child is referred promptly for treatment.

Breaking the Stigma

As a nation, we must confront the stigma that continues to surround disability.

Clubfoot is not a curse.
It is not caused by wrongdoing.
It is not a punishment.
It is a medical condition that can be treated successfully.

Families should never feel ashamed to seek help.
Communities should support parents rather than judge them.
Children born with clubfoot deserve the same opportunities, dignity, and inclusion as every other child.

A National Call to Action
As we commemorate World Clubfoot Day 2026, we call on all Ghanaians to become part of the solution.

We call on health workers to identify and refer clubfoot cases immediately after birth.
We call on parents and caregivers to seek treatment as early as possible.
We call on religious leaders, traditional leaders, and community influencers to help raise awareness and eliminate stigma.
We call on media organisations to continue educating the public about clubfoot and the availability of free treatment.
We call on policymakers and health stakeholders to strengthen support for early detection, disability inclusion, and child health services.

Many families are still unaware that clubfoot treatment is available free of charge in Ghana. This lack of awareness continues to delay treatment for children who could otherwise receive life-changing care at no cost.

Over the past 18 years, the Ghana Clubfoot Program has demonstrated that clubfoot can be treated successfully.
Our challenge now is to ensure every child born with clubfoot is identified early enough to benefit from that treatment.

No child should be denied the opportunity to walk because of lack of information.
No family should suffer in silence because they do not know help is available.

This World Clubfoot Day, let us commit to one simple but powerful message:
SEE EARLY. TREAT EARLY. WALK FREELY.

For information on free clubfoot treatment in Ghana:
Ghana Clubfoot Program (CHAG–Hope Walks Ghana)
📞 024 487 9948

“Over 9,000 children have already been given the chance to walk through treatment. Our challenge now is to ensure that no child is left behind because of late detection, stigma, or lack of information.”
Mrs. Nana Afua Adutwumwaa Adjetey, Program Manager, Ghana Clubfoot Program (CHAG–Hope Walks Ghana)