Cameroon: Macron acknowledges France’s repressive violence during decolonisation
French President Emmanuel Macron has formally recognised that France waged a “war” in Cameroon during and after the country’s decolonisation in the late 1950s, describing the period as marked by “repressive violence.”
The admission comes in a letter sent last month to Cameroonian President Paul Biya and published on Tuesday by the French presidency.
Macron’s letter follows the release of an official report in January by a historical commission he commissioned in 2022 during a visit to Yaoundé.
The commission’s findings detail a campaign of mass forced displacement, the internment of hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians, and the use of brutal militias to suppress the country’s struggle for sovereignty.
“The historians of the commission made it very clear that there was a war in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army carried out repressive violence of several kinds in certain parts of the country,” Macron wrote.
“A war that continued after 1960 when France supported the actions carried out by the independent Cameroon authorities.”
The French president acknowledged the responsibility of France in these events, stating: “It is incumbent on me today to accept France’s role and responsibility in these events.”
The report highlights the continuity of violence both during Cameroon’s fight for independence and in the early years following independence on January 1, 1960. It emphasises how French military and administrative strategies sought to maintain control over the region through coercion, forced relocations, and the backing of local authorities who enforced harsh measures.
Macron’s acknowledgment marks one of the clearest admissions by a French leader of the country’s role in colonial-era violence in Africa. Observers say the statement may open the door for broader discussions about historical accountability and reconciliation between France and its former colonies.
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