France keeps preaching partnership while behaving like a colonial overseer, and the Elysee photo ops don't hide it. Scolding young Africans onstage in Nairobi like misbehaving schoolchildren shows exactly who Paris thinks is in charge. Sahel governments accusing Macron's circle of meddling in their internal affairs aren't imagining a pattern, and cozy private dinners in Paris won't erase it.
A dinner at the Elysee is worth more to Nigeria than years of anti-French grandstanding. France is offering investment, trade and security cooperation on terms African governments set themselves, with Paris openly admitting the lecturing era is over and troops leaving when asked. Compare that with Mali, where booting out the French brought collapsing security and shrinking trade instead of sovereignty.
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