VIDEO: Eliud Kipchoge joins French President Macron for morning run in Nairobi

French President Emmanuel Macron took to the streets of Nairobi for an early morning jog alongside legendary Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge during the third day of his Africa tour.

The run through the Kenyan capital highlighted the French president’s efforts to connect with local culture and celebrate Kenya’s global sporting excellence.

Residents gathered along parts of the route to catch a glimpse of the two runners as they moved through the city.

Kipchoge, widely regarded as one of the greatest marathon athletes in history, accompanied Macron in a symbolic display of friendship, fitness, and growing ties between France and Kenya.

Macron urged investment in Africa on Monday as he co-hosted an economic summit in Kenya, after defending European involvement on the continent.

The European leader, speaking at the University of Nairobi, said Africa "needs investment to become more sovereign", replacing aid with economic opportunities.

Speaking in French, Macron said that previously European chiefs would lecture African leaders on what they needed, but, "this is no longer what Africa needs or wants to hear".

"That's just as well, because we, too, no longer have the means, if we're being honest," he said.

Ahead of the summit, in an interview with the magazines Jeune Afrique and The Africa Report, the French leader said he first strongly condemned colonialism when he came to power in 2017.

But he said the colonial era was not solely to blame for issues still affecting Africa.

"We must not exonerate from all responsibility the seven decades that followed independence," he added, calling on African leaders to improve governance.

European former colonial powers such as France and the UK remain targets for criticism in Africa but Macron maintained that they were not "the predators of this century".

"Europe defends the international order, effective multilateralism, the rule of law, free and open trade," he was quoted as saying.

France withdrew its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger after the military in each of those countries seized power between 2020 and 2023.

Asked about the juntas, Macron said: "I'm convinced that we must let these states and their leaders, even putschists, chart their own course."

But he defended France's military presence in the Sahel region, as it had been requested to fight the extremist threat.

"When our presence was no longer wanted after the coups, we left," he said. "That wasn't a humiliation but a logical response to a given situation."

"A new era is about to start. The Sahel will one day regain normal governance" with democratically elected leaders who "genuinely care about their people", he added.