A letter made public on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, revealed that French President Emmanuel Macron formally recognized for the first time that France waged a war marked by repressive violence in Cameroon both before and after it gained independence in 1960.
The letter, dated July 30, 2025, was addressed to Cameroonian President Paul Biya and came in response to findings from a joint Franco-Cameroonian historical commission examining the years between 1945 and 1971.
That commission reported that France employed methods including forced displacement, internment camps, and support for harsh militias aimed at crushing the independence movement led by the UPC (Union of the Peoples of Cameroon).
Historians determined that these tactics amounted to war, extending well beyond independence into the early post-colonial era.
The letter also acknowledged France’s involvement in the killings of prominent independence leaders such as Ruben Um Nyobè, Paul Momo, Isaac Nyobè Pandjock, and Jérémie Ndéléné between 1958 and 1960—acts that took place under French military command.
In response, Macron pledged to open French archives to researchers, support further historical inquiry, and establish a bilateral working group tasked with implementing the commission’s recommendations.
The aim is to encourage reconciliation and strengthen ties between the two nations.
This gesture aligns with Macron’s broader efforts to address France’s colonial past, following similar acknowledgments related to Rwanda and the Algerian War.