France acknowledges role in Cameroon's struggle for independence
The letter, addressed to Cameroonian President Paul Biya, follows the findings of a joint Franco-Cameroonian commission that investigated France's role and involvement against the fight for independence between 1945 and 1971.
The Cameroon government did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Cameroon was a German colony until it was split between Britain and France after World War 1. Under UN trusteeship, the French-administered area gained independence in 1960 while the southern British Cameroons voted to join French Cameroon in a federation in 1961.
"The commission's historians clearly established that a war took place in Cameroon, during which French colonial authorities and military forces committed various forms of violent repression in several regions of the country, a war that continued beyond 1960 with France's support for actions taken by the independent Cameroonian authorities," Macron said in the letter.
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