Monday, May 11, 2026
Macron charms pupils during morning run with Kipchoge
By Perpetua Etyang, NAIROBI Kenya
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday shared a light moment with school children during his morning run alongside marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge.
During the run, Macron and Kipchoge passed by State House Primary school where they briefly stopped to interact with excited pupils.
The children rushed to greet the two leaders with excitement as they entered the school compound.
At one point, Macron peeped through a classroom window and invited the pupils to come outside and meet them.
Accompanied by their teacher, the pupils were asked who the visitors were, and they quickly responded: “Kipchoge and Emmanuel.”
In a light-hearted moment, one of the pupils asked the French President his name, prompting him to reply: “Emmanuel.”
Sharing the experience afterwards, Macron said, “Made new friends today!”
Macron swapped the formal atmosphere of high-level summit meetings for running shoes on as he joined Kenyan marathon icon Kipchoge for a jog on the streets of Nairobi.
The French president, who is in Kenya for the Africa Forward Summit, was spotted jogging alongside the two-time Olympic champion in a relaxed morning session that quickly drew attention online.
He was dressed in a navy blue track shirt featuring a thick white stripe on the sleeves, paired with black shorts and blue running shoes.
Beside him, Kipchoge appeared calm and composed in matching running gear, with the pair seemingly engaged in conversation as they paced through the Nairobi roads.
Trailing behind them was a group of runners and what appeared to be members of the presidential security team, keeping stride as the two maintained a steady pace.
The rare sight of a sitting French president jogging alongside one of Kenya’s greatest athletes offered a lighter moment away from the busy schedule of the Africa Forward Summit, which has brought together heads of state, investors and policymakers in Nairobi.
Kipchoge, widely regarded as one of the greatest marathon runners in history, has become a global symbol of endurance and discipline, attracting admiration from world leaders and sports enthusiasts alike.
The morning jog came as the high-level Africa Forward Summit officially got underway in Nairobi, drawing heads of state, senior government officials, investors, innovators and policymakers from across Africa and Europe.
Emmanuel Macron is among the key global leaders attending the two-day summit, which is co-hosted by Kenya and France and is focused on deepening Africa-Europe partnerships through trade, infrastructure development, climate action, technology and investment.
The summit has already seen Kenya and France sign several bilateral agreements covering transport, renewable energy, digital transformation, agriculture and education.
Leaders are also expected to hold discussions on reforming global financing systems, expanding investment opportunities for African economies and strengthening cooperation in innovation and green growth.
For Kenya, hosting the summit marks a major diplomatic moment, with Nairobi positioning itself as a regional hub for business, diplomacy and international partnerships.
Turkish Airlines plane catches fire at Nepal airport, passengers safe
KATHMANDU, Nepal
A Turkish Airlines plane carrying 277 passengers and 11 crew members caught fire while landing at Kathmandu airport Monday, but no one was hurt in the accident.
The flight, which took off from Istanbul, caught fire following a spark in the right landing gear, according to Gyanendra Bhul, a spokesman at Nepal's civil aviation authority.
"All aboard are safe, the rescue part is over. We are now investigating the accident," Bhul told reporters.
Bhul said the incident caused the closure of the airport's only runway for almost two hours in the morning but it has since been reopened.
The Himalayan nation is home to some of the world's most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks and terrain that poses a challenge even for accomplished pilots.
A string of crashes as well as the European Union's decision to blacklist all Nepalese airlines prompted government officials last year to announce plans to install new radar and weather monitoring systems.
In 2015, a Turkish Airline aircraft with 224 passengers skidded off the Kathmandu runway.
The passengers were unhurt but the accident led to a runway closure for four days and saw scores of international flights cancelled.
Trump rejects Iran peace offer, raising fears of escalation
WASHINGTON, United States
United States President Donald Trump branded Iran's terms for ending the Middle East war "totally unacceptable," raising the possibility of fresh conflict and sending oil prices sharply higher in early Asia trade on Monday.
Iran had on Sunday responded to Washington's latest peace proposal and warned it would not hold back from retaliating against any new US strikes or permit more foreign warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump made clear in a post on his Truth Social platform that he would reject Tehran's counter-proposal, though he did not offer details on its contents.
"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it -- TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" Trump said.
The impasse unnerved global energy markets, with international benchmark Brent crude prices rising 4.65% to $99.95 a barrel during Monday morning trade in Asia.
Benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also surged by just over 4% to $105.5 a barrel, as investors braced for further disruptions to supplies through the strait, where Tehran has imposed a partial blockade.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — whose forces launched the war on Iran along with the United States on 28 February — also insisted the conflict would not end until Iran's nuclear facilities were removed.
"It's not over, because there's still nuclear material — enriched uranium — that has to be taken out of Iran. There's still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled," Netanyahu told CBS's "60 Minutes."
Tehran has publicly maintained a defiant line during diplomatic efforts to bring the warring sides back to the negotiating table.
"We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted to X on Sunday.
According to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran's response to the US plan, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war "on all fronts, especially Lebanon" — where Israel has kept up its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah — as well as on "ensuring shipping security."
It provided little further detail, though the US proposal had reportedly focused on extending the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a settlement of the conflict and Iran's contested nuclear program.
Trump is expected to press China's President Xi Jinping — a major buyer of Iranian oil — on the Iran issue when he visits Beijing on Thursday, according to a senior US official.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Iran's counter-proposal had included the possibility of diluting some of its highly enriched uranium, with the rest transferred to a third country.
Iran had sought guarantees that the transferred uranium would be returned if negotiations failed or Washington abandoned the agreement, sources told the Journal.
The lack of a clear path to a resolution has focused concern on the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is restricting maritime traffic and setting up a payment mechanism to charge tolls for crossing ships.
US officials have stressed it would be "unacceptable" for Tehran to control the international waterway — the route for a fifth of the world's oil.
The US Navy is also blockading Iran's ports, at times disabling or diverting ships heading to and from them.
Britain and France are sending vessels to the region and are leading efforts to create an international coalition to secure the strait after a peace deal is reached.
The two countries will also host a multinational meeting of defense ministers from more than 40 nations on Tuesday to discuss military plans to restore trade flows through the strait.
But French President Emmanuel Macron insisted his country had "never envisaged" a naval deployment in Hormuz, but rather a security mission "coordinated with Iran," after Tehran warned the two countries would face a "decisive and immediate response" if their ships were deployed to the strait.
As diplomatic momentum appeared to dwindle, fresh drone attacks in the Gulf on Sunday rattled the ceasefire.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses intercepted a drone attack launched from Iran, while Kuwait reported "hostile drones" in its airspace.
Qatar's defense ministry also said a freighter arriving in its waters from Abu Dhabi was hit by a drone.
In a social media post on Sunday, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament's national security commission warned Washington: "Our restraint is over as of today."
"Any attack on our vessels will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases," Ebrahim Rezaei said.
Sunday, May 10, 2026
"France 'never envisaged' sending warships into Strait of Hormuz" - Macron
NAIROBI, Kenya
President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said that France had "never envisaged" a naval deployment in the Strait of Hormuz but rather a security mission that would be "coordinated with Iran".
At a news conference in Nairobi, Macron said he was sticking to his position opposing a blockade from either side, and to "reject any toll" to ensure ships are able to pass through the strategic waterway.
Iran on Sunday warned of a "decisive and immediate response" to any French or British deployments in the strait, after both announced they would send military vessels to the region.
"There was never any question of a deployment but we are ready," said Macron.
"We have put together an ad hoc mission, co-led with the British, which has brought together 50 countries and international organisations to enable, in a coordinated way with Iran and by deconflicting the situation with all the countries of the region and the United States, the resumption of maritime traffic as soon as conditions allow," he added.
Macron, in Africa for a summit in Nairobi, said the whole continent was "victim of the blockade" of the strait, through which normally passes most of the oil exported from the Middle East.
France last week announced that its aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, had passed through the Suez Canal in preparation for such a mission.
French President seeks to cement Africa legacy with Kenya summit
By Our Correspondent, NAIROBI Kenya
President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday embarks on a visit to Africa aimed at renewing France's engagement with the continent after years of strained ties with former French‑speaking colonies.
In English‑speaking Kenya, Macron will co‑host a summit on Monday and Tuesday bringing together African leaders and business executives, as he seeks to cement his legacy one year before the end of his term.
He will also travel to Egypt and Ethiopia as part of his Africa tour.
"The Africa Forward summit marks a major milestone in relations between France and the African continent," the Elysee Palace said.
The meeting will focus on economic development and cross‑border investment, among other themes, the French presidency said, stressing that it will be the first such forum held in an English‑speaking country.
Macron hopes to highlight France's renewed relationship with the continent as a "report card on his Africa policy", said one diplomat.
Anti‑French sentiment runs high in some former African colonies as the continent becomes a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing.
Once master of vast expanses of northern, central and western Africa, France has played a crucial role in the continent's post‑colonial history, repeatedly intervening militarily since the early 1960s.
France has vowed to abandon the so‑called "Francafrique" strategy, under which Paris sought to keep francophone Africa under its thumb through political collusion, exclusive access for French businesses and oblique financial deals including graft.
Macron has gone further than his predecessors in admitting France's colonial-era abuses in countries including Rwanda, Cameroon and Senegal. But he has ruled out any official apology for torture and other abuses carried out by French troops in Algeria.
Ahead of his trip, French parliament definitively adopted legislation to simplify the return of artworks looted during the colonial era.
But under his watch, French forces deployed in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger withdrew following successive coups, as the juntas in those countries drew closer to Russia.
The unravelling of those ties came after Macron in 2020 summoned leaders of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania to the southwestern French town of Pau, threatening to pull out French troops.
The meeting was widely seen as a throwback to the colonial era and accelerated France's crisis in ties with the countries in the Sahel.
Amaka Anku, head of the Africa section at Eurasia Group, a risk analysis firm, said Macron should not be blamed for France's loss of influence in the Sahel.
"That was a long time coming, it's inherited," she told AFP.
"The best thing Macron did was to try to expand France's relations with anglophone Africa."
The military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will not attend the summit.
Africa expert Niagale Bagayoko expressed scepticism about what Macron might be able to achieve.
"Nothing particularly new can happen in Franco‑African relations before the end of Emmanuel Macron's term," she said.
"There is too much baggage."
She said Macron was perceived by many in Africa as a leader who had "failed to grasp" the evolution of public opinion and was seen as "arrogant and paternalistic".
Some still remember how Macron in 2017 nearly sparked a diplomatic incident with Burkina Faso's then‑president Roch Marc Christian Kabore as he spoke to students in Ouagadougou.
Some complained of persistent electricity cuts, and when Kabore briefly left the room, Macron joked that he had gone to fix the air conditioning.
Critics also pointed out that the overhaul of the CFA franc, a France-backed currency used by some African countries and seen as a relic of the colonial past, did not amount to much.
Former French ambassador Nicolas Normand said the reform was "homeopathic", accusing Macron of failing to grasp the symbolic weight of a colonial‑era legacy.
Before travelling to Kenya, Macron will unveil the new campus of a university in Alexandria in northern Egypt alongside President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
On Wednesday, the French president will travel to Addis Ababa where he will hold talks with Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union Commission, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Africa’s richest man Dangote eyes Kenya for new refinery
ABUJA, Nigeria
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest industrialist, is eyeing Kenya as the site of a huge 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery he intends to build in east Africa, he told the FT, after questions over a previous push to build it in Tanzania.
Tanzanian President Samia Hassan last week complained angrily to her Kenyan counterpart William Ruto that she had not been consulted over the earlier plan to build it on her country’s coastline, which was announced in her absence last month at an infrastructure summit.
Dangote said in an interview: “I’m leaning more towards Mombasa because Mombasa has a much larger, deeper port.”
He compared Kenya’s port to Tanga, the proposed Tanzanian site for the refinery to process oil from Uganda and the open market.
Dangote estimated it would cost $15bn-$17bn to build.
“Kenyans consume more. It’s a bigger economy,” he said, adding that crude oil for the refinery could be transported by ship and need not be located near a pipeline that will carry oil nearly 1,500 kilometres from Ugandan oilfields to the Tanzanian coast at Tanga.
“The ball is in the hands of President Ruto,” he said. “Whatever President Ruto says is what I’ll do.” He said.
For the east African refinery to get off the ground, Dangote said, he would need Ruto to offer land, some east African finance and, most important, protection from what he called dumping of cheap fuel from the likes of Russia or India.
“There is no refinery in the world that can survive without that protection,” he said. “If we have an agreement, we can start this year.”
Tanzania’s president this month complained to her Kenyan counterpart after he and Dangote jointly announced the plan to build it in her country.
“Why did you announce a refinery in Tanga, and I know nothing about it?” she said she had told Ruto in a private meeting.
Industry analysts have speculated that Dangote might be trying to get a better deal by playing the east African neighbours off against each other.
He told the FT he could still build the refinery in Tanzania “if they are able to sort themselves out”.
Militia kill at least 69 in DR Congo
KIVU, DR Congo
A militia attack killed at least 69 people in Ituri province in the conflict-torn northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), local and security sources told our Correspondent Saturday.
For more than 30 years the mineral-rich eastern DRC has been a battleground between various armed groups, vying for control of its many mines.
Two ethnic groups -- the Hema and the Lendu -- have been locked in a long-running violent conflict in Ituri, a gold-rich province that borders Uganda and South Sudan.
Armed men affiliated with the Codeco militia (Cooperative for the Development of Congo), which claims to protect the Lendu, carried out attacks in several villages on April 28, local and security sources said, killing at least 69 people.
These attacks followed an earlier assault by another armed group, the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CRP) -- which says it fights for the Hema community -- on positions held by the Congolese army (FARDC) near the locality of Pimbo, they said.
More than 70 people were killed when Codeco fighters launched the retaliatory attacks in late April, civil society leader Dieudonne Losa said.
On condition of anonymity, two other security sources confirmed the attacks, with one stating a death toll of at least 69, including 19 militia members and soldiers.
The presence of Codeco fighters delayed the recovery of the bodies for several days, they said.
"Only 25 bodies have been buried," Losa said Saturday, adding several sets of remains had yet to be recovered.
A humanitarian source described bodies "strewn on the ground" near the village of Bassa, one of the areas targeted.
The United Nations' mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) said on April 30 it had rescued "nearly 200 people caught under fire" from the CRP assault on the FARDC.
On Saturday it said it "strongly condemns the recent wave of deadly attacks targeting civilians" in the restive east.
The Ente association, a non-profit representing the Hema community, described the killings as a "massacre", urging its members to avoid retaliation.
Famous for its mineral wealth, ranging from cobalt and copper to uranium and diamonds, the former Belgian colony has long been beset by corruption and bloodshed.
Since early 2025, Ituri has seen a resurgence of the CRP, a group founded by convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga.
He was found guilty in 2012 by the International Criminal Court for recruiting children into his rebel army and released in 2020 on completion of his prison sentence.
Fighting between the CRP, the Congolese army, and the Codeco militia has been marked by widespread abuses and killings of civilians.
The region also faces ongoing attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group formed by former Ugandan rebels that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
The province has been plunged into a humanitarian crisis, with nearly one million internally displaced people, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)