Power & Debt: Macron’s 54m Euro Loan Tightens the Sovereign Knot

The National Palace was the backdrop for a high-stakes display of "checkbook diplomacy" this week as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and French President Emmanuel Macron presided over the exchange of a multi-million-euro financial package. While the official communiqués framed the visit as a celebration of bilateral solidarity, the granular details of the agreements—spanning from renewable energy loans to Geothermal Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)—reveal a French administration eager to anchor its economic influence in the Horn of Africa’s energy transition....