French president Emmanuel Macron officially recognized that France had led “A war” in Cameroon against insurrectional movements before and after the independence of 1960, marked by “Repressive violence”in a letter to his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya made public on Tuesday.
Emmanuel Macron thus endorses the conclusions of a report of historians who had been given to him in January and who has “Clearly highlights that a war had taken place in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army exercised repressive violence of a multiple nature”adding that “War continued beyond 1960 with the support of France to the actions carried out by the independent Cameroonian authorities”.
Using this word so far absent from the official French speech several times concerning Cameroon, Emmanuel Macron adds that “War continued beyond 1960 with the support of France to the actions carried out by the independent Cameroonian authorities”. “It is up to me to assume today the role and responsibility of France in these events”adds Emmanuel Macron, in this letter to Paul Biya dated July 30, who acts a memorial turning point between the two countries.
The French President had announced in Cameroon in July 2022 the launch of the work of a Mixed Franco-Cameroonian commission aimed at shedding light on the struggle of France against independence and opposition to Cameroon between 1945 and 1971. The report of this commission, chaired by historian Karine Ramondy, is part of the memorial policy of President Macron vis-à-vis Similar on Rwanda and Algeria, other dark pages of French politics in Africa.
The report on Cameroon and the research called to extend it “Will allow us to continue building the future together, to strengthen the close relationship that unites France and Cameroon, with its human ties between our civil societies and our youth”estimates Emmanuel Macron.
Paul Biya, 92, announced last month his decision to seek an eighth term to the presidential election scheduled for October 12. The Constitutional Council for its part rejected last week the candidacy of its main opponent, Maurice Kamto.