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Colonial Atrocities: French-Inflicted Wounds In Cameroon Opened
Western brutal colonial atrocities in Cameroon, particularly those perpetrated by France, have been shrouded in the ambiguity of bureaucratic lexicon for decades. They are now being exposed gradually.
A letter from French President Emmanuel Macron to his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya has spilled out France’s carefully guarded secret regarding its brutal colonial-era military operations in Cameroon.
The letter, made public last week, marks the first time France has officially acknowledged using “repressive violence” in the Central African nation.
What the French government termed “operations to maintain order” were, in reality, violent suppression in which many of those at the vanguard of Cameroon’s struggle for independence were killed, while hundreds of thousands were herded into internment camps.
While Macron stopped short of apologising for the atrocities, his admission represents the latest attempt by France to reckon with its colonial past, coinciding with the steady erosion of its influence across former African colonies, particularly in the Sahel region.
The scale of France’s actions in Cameroon remained largely unknown all these years, even to many French citizens.
The veil of secrecy extended to assassinations and mysterious disappearances, both of which were commonplace at the time.
These details only emerged this January when Cameroonian and French historians released an official report based on newly declassified documents and archival research covering events in the 1950s and 1960s.
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