Cameroon: Emmanuel Macron recognizes “a war” led by France during decolonization

• In a letter dated July 30, addressed to his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya, Emmanuel Macron recognized “a war” led by France in Cameroon before and after the independence of 1960.
• The fight against insurrectional movements was marked by “repressive violence”.

Until then, the term was absent from the official French speech. 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 August 12.

The French head of state thus endorses the conclusions of a report of historians who had been given to him last January. The latter, according to the tenant of the Élysée, “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”.

It is up to me to assume today the role and responsibility of France

Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic

“The war continued beyond 1960 with the support of France to the actions carried out by the independent Cameroonian authorities”added Emmanuel Macron. “It is up to me to assume today the role and responsibility of France in these events”he said in this letter dated July 30, which acts a memorial turning point between the two countries.

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In July 2022, then traveling to Cameroon, the President of the Republic had announced the launch of work of a Mixed Franco-Cameroonian commission, aimed at shedding light on the fight of France against independence and opposition to Cameroon between 1945 and 1971. According to Emmanuel Macron, the report and 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”.