Leaders arrive for Africa-France summit in Kenya

Heads of state from African countries, as well as France president, Emmanuel Macron, and the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres arrived at the Africa Forward summit in Nairobi on Tuesday morning (May 12).

More than 30 African leaders gathered for a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron in Kenya on Tuesday, as Paris sought new deals and partnerships amid signs of fading influence in some of its former colonies on the continent.

The Africa Forward Summit is the first France has organized in an English-speaking nation and follows a series of setbacks in West Africa, where some Francophone leaders have cut back on security and commercial links with their erstwhile colonial ruler.

France - which has organized similar events in French-speaking nations since the 1970s - has touted rising trade with African countries, though it has experienced disappointments too.

The Kenyan president, William Ruto, will attend the G7 summit next month in Evian-les-Bains at the invitation of France, where he plans to push for global action to improve the continent's access to credit.

-Jefferson Kahinju, Catherine Schenck/Reuters