Overview

• President Emmanuel Macron publicly recognized that France waged a wartime campaign of repressive violence in Cameroon during decolonisation and accepted responsibility in a letter disclosed on August 12, 2025.
• A Franco-Cameroonian commission report released in January found that between 1956 and 1961 France forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians, operated internment camps and backed militia violence resulting in tens of thousands of deaths.
• Macron acknowledged France’s role in the killings of independence leaders Ruben Um Nyobè, Paul Momo, Isaac Nyobè Pandjock and Jérémie Ndéléné during military operations conducted under French command between 1958 and 1960.
• The French president pledged to open colonial-era archives, support historical research and create a joint working group to oversee implementation of the commission’s recommendations.
• Official Cameroonian responses and details of the proposed working group have not yet been released as Cameroon prepares for an October presidential election under long-time leader Paul Biya.