Cameroon: Macron opens a new memorial project

The Head of State, anxious to redesign the often tense relations with Yaoundé, proposed to create a commission of historians to “shed light” over the period of colonization. He also denounced “the hypocrisy” of African countries who do not recognize Russian aggression in Ukraine.

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The memorial gesture was first approached with Paul Biya, the irremovable Cameroonian president, then with young people from civil society. Tuesday, July 26, in Yaoundé, the capital, Emmanuel Macron tried to open a new page in relations often tense between Cameroon and France: the Head of State proposed to create a commission of historians from the two countries , responsible for “shedding light” on the attitude of the French authorities during colonization and after the formal independence of the country, in 1960. The initiative is the main novelty of the visit started Monday evening in this country in Central Africa , at the opening of a tour which was to lead Mr. Macron to Benin on Wednesday, then to Guinea-Bissau, Thursday.

During this visit – a first in Africa since the re -election of Mr. Macron – The warmth of the reception was intended to meet the relations between France and Cameroon, long considered as a pillar of “Françafrique “. The songs and dances of the small crowds gathered on the passage of the presidential convoy cannot however make us forget the magnitude of the memorial site thus sketched.

opening “in full” of the French archives

In the eyes of the Head of State, the approach must neither more nor less contribute to renewing relations between the country and the old colonial power, at a time when it experiences a clear loss of influence in the region . “If we want to go further between Cameroon and France, we have to make this path,” he justified himself, while promising the “entire” opening of the French archives, diplomatic as military, on “moments painful “and” tragic “.

“painful moments” largely unknown to the general public in France. The colonial authorities of the time were accused of having repressed the “maquis” of the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC), a nationalist party founded in the late 1940s and engaged in the armed struggle against the colonizer and its Cameroonian allies, particularly in Bamileke countries. Between 1955, the date of the first riots, and 1970, several tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of activists were massacred by the French army, then, after independence, by the Cameroonian army of Ahmadou Ahidjo, to which Paul Biya will succeed in 1982.

 during the meeting the French community at the French Embassy in Yaoundé, July 26 2022. During the meeting the French Community at the French Embassy in Yaoundé, July 26, 2022. Jean-Claude Coutausse for “Le Monde ”

Bout of the race 2>

In the imposing presidential palace located on the heights of Yaoundé, the Cameroonian president, who is slow to organize his succession, made no comments on the initiative. Twice, during the common press conference, Paul Biya, 89, pretended not to hear the questions, forcing Emmanuel Macron to make the voice of journalists, especially when asked if he was counting Represent yourself at a ninth term in the next elections, in 2025.

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/Media reports.