{"id":2999,"date":"2026-05-13T07:35:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/?p=2999"},"modified":"2026-05-13T07:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:41:17","slug":"french-president-speaks-amidst-gachaguas-attack-send-ruto-a-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/french-president-speaks-amidst-gachaguas-attack-send-ruto-a-message\/","title":{"rendered":"French President Speaks Amidst Gachagua\u2019s Attack, Send Ruto A Message"},"content":{"rendered":"

French President Emmanuel Macron has reached out to Kenyan President William Ruto with a message of solidarity following the recent attack on Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. In a post shared on social media, Macron wrote: \u201cAsante @WilliamsRuto, asante Kenya!\u201d<\/a><\/em> \u2014 a phrase in Swahili meaning \u201cthank you,\u201d which immediately struck a chord with Kenyans.<\/p>\n

The timing of Macron\u2019s message is significant. It comes amid heightened political tensions in Nairobi, where Gachagua has openly criticized Ruto\u2019s leadership and his decision to host the Africa Forward Summit<\/strong>. Macron\u2019s words, though brief, carried symbolic weight: they underscored France\u2019s recognition of Kenya\u2019s resilience and its leadership under Ruto, while also signaling international concern over the safety of senior government officials.<\/a><\/p>\n

Observers note that Macron\u2019s deliberate use of Swahili was more than a diplomatic courtesy \u2014 it was a cultural gesture aimed at connecting directly with the Kenyan people. Analysts suggest this move could strengthen bilateral ties, especially as France and Kenya continue to collaborate on climate action, trade, and regional security.<\/p>\n

Sources close to State House indicate that President Ruto welcomed the message warmly, viewing it as reassurance of Kenya\u2019s place on the global stage. Political analysts believe Macron\u2019s intervention may help ease tensions by reframing Kenya\u2019s internal crisis within a broader context of international solidarity.<\/p>\n

Yet Gachagua struck a defiant tone. In a press briefing on Tuesday, he urged UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres and Macron to raise \u201chuman rights concerns and regional security threats\u201d<\/em> with Ruto, while claiming French firms benefited from a controversial compensation payout linked to a cancelled road project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank the UN Secretary General for coming to Nairobi so that we address him from here on the danger that the Horn of Africa faces courtesy of his host Mr. William Ruto,\u201d Gachagua said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He further argued that Ruto\u2019s summit was a political \u201csideshow\u201d designed to seek international \u201caffirmation\u201d and \u201creprieve\u201d from domestic pressure, insisting it would not benefit ordinary Kenyans.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French President Emmanuel Macron has reached out to Kenyan President William Ruto with a message of solidarity following the recent attack on Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. In a post shared on social media, Macron wrote: \u201cAsante @WilliamsRuto, asante Kenya!\u201d \u2014 a phrase in Swahili meaning \u201cthank you,\u201d which immediately struck a chord with Kenyans. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[668],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stateupdate.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/HIHj8N5WYAA7mcT.jpg?fit=2080%2C1302&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc68Dd-Mn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3001,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions\/3001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}