French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly acknowledged the violent actions carried out by French forces in Cameroon during the country’s fight for independence, marking a significant moment in France’s reckoning with its colonial history.
The admission follows a comprehensive report compiled by Cameroonian and French historians, detailing France’s suppression of independence movements between 1945 and 1971. The findings were made public in a letter Macron addressed to Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, in which he stated:
“A war had taken place in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army exercised repressive violence of several kinds in certain regions of the country.”
Macron added, “It is up to me today to assume the role and responsibility of France in these events.”
Despite acknowledging France’s role, Macron stopped short of issuing a formal apology for the atrocities committed. The report highlights the deaths of tens of thousands of Cameroonians between 1956 and 1961, and the use of internment camps and militias to crush the independence movement. Among those killed were prominent anti-colonial figures, including Ruben Um Nyobe of the UPC party.
The decision to investigate France’s actions in Cameroon was initiated during Macron’s 2022 visit to Yaoundé, amid growing calls for accountability and reparations. Macron expressed openness to further collaborative research and emphasized the importance of making the findings accessible to academic institutions.
While Macron’s statement marks progress, he did not respond to demands for reparations a topic expected to remain central in Cameroonian discourse.
Macron’s presidency has seen France begin to confront its colonial legacy more openly. In recent years, he acknowledged the 1944 massacre of West African troops in Senegal and France’s complicity in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where nearly 800,000 people were killed. In 2021, he admitted France had ignored warnings and “valued silence over examination of the truth.
