Emmanuel Macron acknowledges the war waged by France in Cameroon and the role in the death of Ruben Um Nyobé

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The French president Emmanuel Macron has crossed a historical milestone in recognizing France’s colonial past in Cameroon. In a letter addressed to his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya, and made public on Tuesday, August 12, he recognized that “France had waged a war” against Cameroonian insurgent movements, both before and after the independence of 1960.

This war, according to Emmanuel Macron, was marked by “multiple types of repressive violence” practiced by the colonial authorities and the French army. According to RFI, the French head of state also admitted that French military operations continued after independence, in support of Cameroonian authorities, and that the French army bore direct responsibility in the death of Ruben Um Nyobé, a leading figure in the independence struggle.

Thus, the head of state endorses the conclusions of a historian report submitted last January. This document highlighted the reality of a conflict long denied or minimized in Franco-Cameroonian relations and detailed the nature of military operations and repressions carried out.

An acknowledgment awaited for decades

This statement comes as calls for official recognition of this war have multiplied over the years, carried by historians, human rights defense associations, and descendants of victims.

For many, the death of Ruben Um Nyobé in 1958 symbolizes the brutality of the French repression against Cameroonian independence aspirations.

Emmanuel Macron and Paul Biya met on August 15, 2024, at the national cemetery of Boulouris-sur-Mer, in the southeast of France, on the occasion of a commemorative ceremony. This presidential gesture could open the way to memory initiatives and more in-depth historical work between Paris and Yaoundé.

The reaction of the Cameroonian authorities and civil society will be decisive in measuring the political and symbolic impact of this recognition.