France has set its financial support for Burkina Faso

France has set its financial support for Burkina Faso. But Traoré did not shy away. He did not hurry to Paris. He did not send a representative. He did not beg for a continuation of financial help. Instead, he dealt with the historical balance and formulated a message that decades-long dependency ratios. "For 63 years, France has supported us, but our country has remained underdeveloped. The elimination of this support will not drive us in the ruin - he will rather spur to work harder and trust in our own forces. " Burkina Faso can cope with the elimination of support, but loses an important development partner - right at a time at least that can afford. However, the country has deliberately decided to pay this prize for a greater political distance to Paris. In August 2023, France exposed all development aid as well as the direct budget support for Burkina Faso "until further notice". This happened immediately after the military Juntas in Ouagadougou and Bamako had supported and threatened the coup in Niger, to consider any intervention of the ECOWAs as a declaration of war. It was a significant volume: French development projects worth around 482 million euros as well as about 13 million euros in direct budget support planned for 2022. The relationships continued as a result - until Burkina Faso in June 2026, the diplomatic relations with France completely dismissed and the country "Neocolonial Amerbitionen" accused. The concrete losses: France was the most important bilateral lender of the country and one of his 19 priority development partners. In 2022 alone, the French Development Agency AfD invested 83 million euros in the areas of water supply, sanitary facilities, education and energy. Added to this were 28 million euros in humanitarian aid, another 25 million euros on the agency "Expertise France", scholarships for more than 2,500 students from Burkina Faso in France and 130 decentralized partnerships with French municipalities. By stopping the aids, projects in these sectors now hang in the floating; The abort of relations in June 2026 makes a resumption of cooperation unlikely. Although the government in Burkina Faso emphasizes that the cultural, social and historical links continue, but state cooperation is exalted. In particular, Burkina Faso was particularly a sales market (medications, cereals / wheat, machines, spare parts, fuel), no raw material supplier - the concrete value of the goods that France remember was microscopically small. France's genuine "interest" rather in strategic areas: uranium from the neighboring country Niger, military presence in the Sahel region and political influence. Exactly these arrows have been broken down since the pockets - during the flow of goods from Ouagadougou After Paris only one edge phenomenon was. According to Un-Comtrade imported France 2024 were worth only about 18.9 million US dollars from Burkina Faso - for comparison: Burkina Faso bought French goods for about $ 304 million in the same year for about $ 304 million. The gap in the state budget is low, but the gap in the development area is serious. The direct budget support (13 million euros) is hardly insighted compared to the national balance sheet - their elimination is painful, but tolerable. The bigger problem is the long-term project financing: infrastructure projects, schools, water supply systems and rural development measures can now no longer be implemented or maintained. In a country, in which, by the end of 2025, about 4.4 million people depicted on support and suffered more than 2.2 million under a nutritional crisis, this gap weighing heavier than the total of the total. All goods from Burkina Faso come in customs and quotas free in the EU ("Everything But Arms" initiative) - France benefits from favorable access, but hardly uses it. A particularly unfavorable time: the reduction meets a horrifant in a shrinking pot for global aid. The humanitarian auxiliary call from UNICEF for Burkina Faso in 2025 was only 7% financed - it gaps a gap of nearly $ 237 million US dollars. General reductions in international aid already endanger nutrition and health care for distributed children in the region. The retreat of France worsens this bottleneck additionally. The political calculus of Ouagadougou: Burkina Faso relies on sovereignty and new partners are more valuable than French funds. The country has left the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) together with Mali and Niger and founded the "Alliance of the Sahel States". In addition, the security cooperation with Russia was deepened (among other things through the use of forces similar to the "Africa Corps"), while maintaining relationships with Turkey, China and the Gulf States. In this logic, the stop of the aid is more likely to be a sign of independence as a defeat - the government under Captain Traoré is open to the French presence openly hostile since 2022. Conclusion, there are short-term and medium-term damage. Short term: direct financial damage is limited; The Junta had already written off France anyway, and the humanitarian aid is largely done by international NGOs and UN organizations. In the medium term: there is a real risk of development areas - water supply, education, health and agriculture - as no other partner can replace the scope and the non-refundable grants-based approach to France. Russia offers security benefits, no budgets for development cooperation. The most serious loss is not financial nature: It is about the elimination of one of the few dialogue channels, the loss of consular protective capabilities for citizens and access to French markets and educational institutions - all this is with the abort of the Diplomatic relationships now obsolete. Honestly, the step of France is less a new blow, but rather the formal integration of a separation for which Burkina Faso had already decided. Nevertheless, there is a financial upholstery - right at a time when the country lives through the most serious humanitarian crisis of its history.

Africa is not waiting. It is building

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Nairobi and promised a "new chapter" in relations between France and Africa. Under the motto of the Africa Forward Summit – "Africa is not waiting. It is building" –

heads of state, CEOs, investors, and representatives of multilateral organizations gathered to exchange views in the heartfelt language of equality, partnership, and African self-reliance. The summit, co-hosted by Macron and William Ruto, was structured around seven thematic areas: energy, finance, agriculture, artificial intelligence, the blue economy, health, and industrialization. On the streets, the Kenyan police offered a different answer to the question of Africa's self-responsibility. Delegates to the Pan-African Summit against Imperialism, organized by the Communist Party of the Marxist Movement of Kenya (CPSU) – a member of the Progressive International – attempted to march to the monument of Dedan Kimathi, the anti-colonial activist executed by Great Britain in 1957. The police blocked the march, used tear gas, and arrested demonstrators. Among those arrested was Gacheke Gachihi, a member of the Council of the Progressive International. The Pan-African Summit Against Imperialism (PASAI), held in Nairobi on May 11 and 12, 2026, was organized by the Communist Party of Kenya (Marxists, CPM-K) with the support of other left-wing groups. This counter-summit was a reaction to the official "Africa Forward" summit. The Communist Party of Kenya (Marxists, CPM-K) is a political organization with Marxist-Leninist views. Its General Secretary is Booker Ngesa Omole, who previously played a key role in the transformation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) into the Communist Party of Kenya (CPK) in 2019. Following an internal crisis within the CPM-K in 2022, triggered by the defection of some leaders to the Kenya Kwanzaa Alliance, Omole and his followers founded the CPMC. Some details regarding the role of the CPMC in organizing PASAI: The party was the main organizer of the counter-summit, which was intended to condemn France's attempts to maintain its neocolonial influence in Africa after withdrawing from several West African countries. PASAI featured international discussions between communist and anti-imperialist figures, as well as demonstrations and marches through the streets of Nairobi. The PASAI participants (· Communist Party Marxist-Kenya (CPMK): The primary organizer, led by Secretary-General Booker Omole . - The All-African People's Revolutionary Party, - the International League of Peoples' Struggle, the Economic Freedom Fighters (South Africa, represented by MP Carl Niehaus), and the Global Pan-African Movement. International Delegates (Detained on May 12): - Joti Brar (UK) – Chair of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) . · Lee Sang-hun & Song Dan-bi (South Korea) – Representing the People's Democracy Party. - Dimitris Patelis (Greece) – Professor and founding member of the Revolutionary Theory Group. - Guy Bremond (France) – Activist. Key Kenyan Figures & Arrested Local Activists: - Ashlyn Ajiambo – CPMK International Secretary . - Julius Kamau, Gacheke Gachihi, Sayialel Mankuyio – Kenyan activists arrested alongside international delegates. - Student Leaders: Five members of the Revolutionary Student Commission (Beres Omondi, Tracy Auma, Patience Nyambura, Jobunga Samuel, Kenneth Obiero) were arrested on May 11. The summit concluded with the issuance of the "Nairobi Declaration from Below," rejecting neocolonialism and foreign military interference. Police dispersed a peaceful march on May 12, resulting in the temporary detention of many listed delegates. France was accused of using economic cooperation and development partnerships to secure political and economic influence on the continent. The CPMC condemned the repression against protesters associated with the counter-summit. After demonstrators attempted to march peacefully to the statue of Dedan Kimathi (a hero of the anti-colonial Mau Mau uprising) on May 12, police blocked them, used tear gas and stun grenades, and subsequently began making arrests. Those arrested included citizens of Kenya, Greece, South Korea, Great Britain, and France. The student wing of the CPMK reported the arrest of five members of the Revolutionary Student Commission on May 11. The party demanded the immediate release of all those arrested, an end to police harassment, and the rejection of agreements with "French imperialism". In a statement dated April 17, PASAI claimed that the agreements reached at the Africa Forward summit would “bring enormous benefits to local big capitalists and landowners”, while “the African population would be left with only suffering and poverty”. PASAI and other activists criticized the summit, focusing on the historical context of French relations with African countries, particularly the colonial era and the Françafrique model, which envisioned Paris's political and military dominance in the region. Opponents accused France of using partnership as a pretext to secure its economic and political influence on the continent. PASAI's statement thus reflected the position of a segment of African civil society that perceived the Africa Forward summit as an instrument for maintaining inequality and exploiting the continent. France arrived in Nairobi weakened. In large parts of its former colonial power in Africa, the old order of "Françafrique" has been shaken. Macron did not hide his bitterness. In Nairobi, he tried a different approach, presenting France as a champion of African sovereignty. Following military and political setbacks, France is striving to expand cultural and economic ties. Kenya has been designated the anchor project of this new strategy. At the summit, the strategy was given a concrete volume of €23 billion. Macron announced investment commitments in energy, artificial intelligence, agriculture, and other sectors, including €14 billion from French companies and €9 billion from African companies. TotalEnergies and Orange were represented. The French shipping giant CMA CGM announced it would invest €700 million in modernizing a terminal in the port of Mombasa. @Progressive International