Frances

Paris seeks to repair economic and security ties while countering rising anti-French sentiment across Africa.

French President Emmanuel Macron has started a tour of East Africa as Paris seeks to rebuild its influence on the continent after a series of setbacks, especially in its former West African colonies.

Macron began the three-country tour in Egypt on Saturday, which will also take him to Kenya and Ethiopia.

He will cohost a summit in English-speaking Kenya on Monday and Tuesday as France seeks to redefine its role in Africa, moving away from its postcolonial role towards closer cooperation.

The summit will bring together African leaders and business executives, with several agreements between French and Kenyan companies set to be signed during the visit to boost economic and commercial cooperation.

The “Africa Forward” summit will be the first in an Anglophone country attended by Macron since he took office in 2017.

The French president will wrap up his tour in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, where he will hold meetings with Ethiopian officials and take part in talks at the African Union headquarters on peace and security in Africa.

The tour is widely seen as a bid by Paris to repair economic and security ties and counter rising anti-French sentiment across parts of Africa.

Africa’s changing balance

France colonised large parts of West and Central Africa, and maintained excessive political and economic influence long after independence.

France, once widely accused of supporting unpopular leaders for strategic gain, is no longer the dominant foreign power it once was in Francophone Africa.

Across the continent, there is a growing push for more equal, win-win partnerships, tighter control over natural resources and broader alliances beyond traditional Western partners.

Sahel turning point

Anti-French sentiment has generally grown alongside political instability, military coups and rising competition from other international powers.

The sharpest rupture has come in the Sahel region, where Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have seen coups followed by rapidly deteriorating relations with France.

French forces were subsequently expelled after years of military operations against armed groups that many local governments and segments of the public viewed as ineffective.

In the vacuum, the region’s military rulers have turned to new security partners, particularly Russia, highlighting France’s declining influence in the region.

Russian influence, including through the Wagner Group and its successor networks, expanded in part by exploiting anti-French sentiment.

Can Macron succeed in reshaping France’s Africa policy?

Macron is seeking to reshape France’s Africa policy, replacing traditional influence with what he calls partnerships.

He is also pushing for deeper cultural and educational cooperation focused on entrepreneurship, climate and youth engagement.

Such efforts are seen as France’s attempt to reinvent its postcolonial relationship with African states and compete with powers like China and Russia.

Paris is, in fact, trying to shift its Africa policy; questions over its influence on the continent, however, persist.

As I cycle in golden light through the Loire’s vineyards, I have the sudden wish to wear a flowing floral dress, tuck a sunflower behind my ear and answer only to the name Delphine. Opulent chateaux, honeyed stone villages, blazing fields of sunflowers … the Loire is so ridiculously and relentlessly beautiful it’s no wonder artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Émile Vernon made it their home.

A short zip across to Paris on the Eurostar and then an hour south on the TGV to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps and it feels as if we’ve stepped into a live JMW Turner landscape (he toured the region in 1826).

As a fair-weather cyclist – no hills and only in sunshine – I’ve never fancied a proper cycling holiday. However, my partner, Toby, is a keen mountain biker. Our compromise? A self-guided ebike tour through the Loire valley with Cycling for Softies (the clue’s in the name).

A short taxi ride takes us to our starting point, Château du Rivau, a Renaissance beauty in Lémeré, where Joan of Arc is said to have collected her horses before the siege of Orléans in 1429. After we enjoy a glass of chilled local rosé and a potter around the gardens, Quintin from Cycling for Softies arrives with our ebikes (offered as an upgrade on normal touring bikes for a few euros a day) and talks us through the itinerary. We’ll cover about 100 miles (160km) over the next three days, cycling along the river, through vineyards and to towns such as Langeais and Azay-le-Rideau, with plenty of time to stop along the way.

The chateau, which has been lovingly restored by Patricia and Éric Laigneau since 1992, hosts a contemporary art gallery in its ancient turrets. Here, classics are reimagined by modern artists – Pierre Ardouvin’s playful Ile Mona, Jeff Koons’s inspired hunting trophies and Sabine Pigalle’s Dutch Last Supper. There’s also a room devoted to Joan of Arc.

Tonight’s dinner is in the Jardin Secret, the chateau’s gourmet restaurant led by Andrea Modesto, once second-in-command to globally revered chef and restaurateur Joël Robuchon. In a candlelit gazebo, we feast like royalty on stuffed courgette flowers, roast duck with cherries, and a platter of local cheeses, all washed down with an excellent bottle of chinon.

After breakfast the next morning, we wave goodbye to Château du Rivau and our luggage, as Quintin takes care of that. We’re eased in gently – today is just 27 miles – and Toby takes the lead with the help of the on-bike GPS. The route couldn’t be simpler, and within minutes we’re following the cycle path and wheeling through heavenly vineyards and past honeysuckle-draped farmhouses. We soon join La Loire à Vélo, the 560-mile cycling route tracing the river from Nevers to the Atlantic, the first section of which was opened in 2005.

After an hour or so, we arrive at the confluence of the Loire and Vienne rivers in Candes-Saint-Martin, one of the Loire’s ancient river port towns, and stop for a beer at La P’tite Vienne. Basking in the sun on the banks of the river, it’s so nice that we stay for another. And then order lunch. With wine. Before the pastis menu distracts me further, we grab our bikes and potter around the town with its dusty brocantes, fromageries and wine caves.

We tear ourselves away to cycle on through more vineyards and fields of spent sunflowers, heads bowed. It’s late afternoon when we roll into Fontevraud-l’Abbaye, one of France’s Plus Beaux Villages and Petites Cités de Caractère, and L’Hôtel de Fontevraud L’Ermitage, our resting place for the night.

Founded in the 12th century, and now a Unesco world heritage site, Fontevraud Abbey is the final resting place of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart. Set in the grounds of the great abbey, the four-star hotel is light, contemporary and has an almost monastic vibe. The Michelin-starred restaurant is closed on a Monday, but we enjoy a gorgeous picnic prepared by the chefs in the candlelit gardens. Guests of L’Ermitage are also allowed to wander around the hauntingly beautiful abbey after dark.

Day two, and we’re getting the hang of this cycling lark. After breakfast, we leave our cases to be picked up and taken to our next hotel, and set out on today’s 34-mile route. We cross back over the Loire and pick up the riverside cycle path towards Château d’Ussé, a huge and heavily turreted castle said to have inspired Charles Perrault’s fairytale Sleeping Beauty.

I love how easy it is to just ebb and flow with the day. Our route is mostly traffic-free as we drift past copses of poplar trees and weeping willows whose boughs touch the flowing river below, the air scented with cut hay and apples. We fall into an easy routine of cycling for an hour before stopping for a beer. Another burst of energy and a dozen or more kilometres before lunch, which is often long and leisurely.

From Ussé, we cruise on quiet country lanes banked by cliffs dotted with ancient and often forgotten wine cellars to Château de Rochecotte, near Langeais, our home for the next two nights. Elegant, regal almost, with ethereal views across the valley, it feels utterly indulgent. Dinner is a lavish affair: fresh langoustine, locally bred roi rose pork and crème brûlée.

On our last day, we clock up 37 miles, largely without breaking a sweat thanks to the ebikes. We wind our way through medieval river towns such as Azay-le-Rideau, past apple and cherry orchards to Château de Villandry. Built in the 16th century by Jean Le Breton, this glorious Renaissance pile was the last of the grand chateaux to be built along the Loire. One of the highlights is its tiered, geometric gardens, which were restored in the early 20th century by Joachim Carvallo. Wandering around the harp-shaped box bushes in the ornamental garden, the maze and the water garden shaped like a Louis XV-style mirror, I think Delphine would be happy here, especially if she could keep her ebike.

The trip was provided by Cycling for Softies; its four-night Loire in Luxury trip costs from £1,510 per person, including half-board accommodation, bike rental with ebike upgrades available (£20 a day), luggage transfers and route information

PARIS — French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said an 85-year-old French widow of an American military veteran who was in immigration custody in the United States returned home on Friday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Marie-Thérèse Ross in Alabama on April 1 after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“She returned to France this morning, this is a satisfaction for us,” Barrot told reporters during a visit to the southern city of Montpellier on Friday.

Barrot said he would not comment on the specific case, but said some of ICE methods are “not in line” with French standards and “not acceptable to us.” Barrot referred to “violence that raised our concerns,” without elaborating.

Ross was being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana.

She was among the thousands of people targeted by the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda that has detained the spouses of U.S. soldiers and military veterans who previously received greater leniency under scrapped policies.

Ross married Alabama resident William Ross in April last year, Calhoun County marriage records show. Ross died in January, according to an obituary from his family, which says he was a former captain in the U.S. Army.