Colonial past of France
Macron recognizes a “war” carried out in Cameroon during decolonization
In a letter, the French president assumes the role of his country before and after the independence of 1960. A memorial turning point which is part of his policy of reconciliation with Africa.
The French president recognized that France had led “a war” in Cameroon during decolonization.
IMAGO/Le Pictorium
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, officially recognized that France had led “a war” in Cameroon against insurrectionary movements before and after the independence of 1960, marked by “repressive violence”, in a letter to its Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya, made public on Tuesday.
Mr. Macron thus endorses the conclusions of a report of historians who had been given to him in January and which “clearly highlighted that a war had taken place in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army exercised repressive violence of a multiple nature”.
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 Mr. Macron in this letter to Mr. Biya dated July 30, who acts a memorial turning point between the two countries.
Memory policy
The French president had announced in Cameroon in July 2022 the launch of work of a Mixed Franco-Cameroonian commission aimed at shedding light on the fight of France against independence and opposition in Cameroon between 1945 and 1971.
The report of this commission, chaired by historian Karine Ramondy, is part of the memory policy of President Macron vis-à-vis Africa, following similar reports on Rwanda and Algeria, other dark pages of French politics in Africa.
The report on Cameroon and research called to prolong 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,” said 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.
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