'Trump may be finally be getting tired of Putin's game', analyst says
09/07/2025
Day 2 of Macron's UK visit focused on politics, migration issues
Europe
09/07/2025
'Worrying': Single EU member states make asylum agreements with other countries
Europe
08/07/2025
French President Macron says Europe will never abandon Ukraine
Europe
08/07/2025
UK-France: The tide of realpolitik rises as the sea of rhetoric fades on both sides of the Channel
UK
08/07/2025
'Restatement of that historic commitment: Renegotiate important Franco-British bilateral agreements'
UK
07/07/2025
People First mobilising globally to free Ukrainians, including children, held captive by Russia
Europe
06/07/2025
San Fermin bull-running festival kicks off in Spain
Europe
06/07/2025
Heatwaves and wildfires break out in Europe
Europe
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Local France
37 minutes ago
- Local France
Macron admits French ‘repressive violence' in Cameroon decolonisation ‘war'
The letter, sent to his Cameroonian counterpart last month, is the latest example of France's efforts under Macron to come to terms with its bloody colonial history. The admission follows an official report, published in January, which said France implemented mass forced displacement, pushed hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians into internment camps and supported brutal militias to quash the central African country's push for sovereignty. The historical commission examined France's role in the years both leading up to and after Cameroon gained independence from France on January 1st, 1960. 'The historians of the commission made it very clear that there was a war in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army carried out repressive violence of several kinds that continued after 1960,' Macron said in the letter to Cameroonian President Paul Biya, published by the French presidency. 'It is incumbent on me today to accept France's role and responsibility in these events,' he said. Macron announced the creation of the commission during a 2022 trip to the Cameroonian capital Yaounde. Composed of both French and Cameroonian historians, the 14-person committee looked into France's role in the country between 1945 and 1971 based on declassified archives, eyewitness accounts and field surveys. Most of Cameroon came under French rule in 1918 after the defeat of its previous colonial ruler, Germany, during World War I. But a brutal conflict unfolded when the country began pushing for its independence following World War II, a move France repressed violently, according to the report's findings. Advertisement Between 1956 and 1961, France's fight against Cameroonian independence claimed 'tens of thousands of lives' and left hundreds of thousands displaced, the historians said. Mathieu Njassep, president of the Association of Cameroon Veterans (Asvecam), welcomed Macron's letter but told AFP that France must go further. 'France has committed many crimes in Cameroon. It can pay reparations,' he said, though Macron's letter did not mention the possibility of compensation. For many in France, the war in Cameroon went unnoticed because it mainly involved troops from colonies in Africa and was overshadowed by Algeria's 1954-1962 war of independence. Even after Cameroon gained independence in 1960, Paris remained deeply involved, working closely with the 'authoritarian and autocratic' government of Ahmadou Ahidjo, who stayed in power until 1982. Biya, in office since that year, is only the second president in Cameroon's history. Aged 92 and already the world's oldest head of state, he will seek an eighth term in office in a presidential election in October. Cameroon's opposition is struggling to challenge Biya, who has been accused by groups such as Human Rights Watch of suppressing opponents. Advertisement Cameroon's constitutional court last week rejected the candidacy of opposition leader Maurice Kamto, Biya's main opponent. Macron said that France would facilitate access to its archives so that researchers could build on the commission's findings. He also suggested the creation of a bilateral 'working group' to help monitor progress in ongoing research and education. Macron has taken tentative steps to come to terms with once-taboo aspects of France's historical record, though many argue he has not gone far enough. A 2021 report concluded France bore 'overwhelming responsibilities' in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and a 2020 review examining France's actions during Algeria's war of independence called for a 'truth commission' and other conciliatory actions. Macron has, however, ruled out any official apology for torture and other abuses carried out by French troops in Algeria.
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Czech film takes 'conspiracy nuts' on Ukraine war tour
Before the shooting, Kvapil, 43, paid two visits to Ukraine to prepare the film and was shocked by the war. "That's an experience you won't get out of your head. It's for life. Seeing these places will simply change you," the bearded, bespectacled director told AFP in an interview. "As a filmmaker, I have no other weapon than film, and I wanted to stand up to the war in some way," he added. He chose Petra, Ivo and Nikola out of 60 Czechs who had answered his ad looking for people nursing doubts about the reality of the war after succumbing to disinformation. A survey by pollsters Ipsos indicated last year that most Czechs think Russia is using disinformation to skew public opinion. One in three respondents also told Ipsos they had believed disinformation on more than one occasion over their lifetime. The Czech intelligence service BIS said in a recent report that "in 2024, society continued to grapple with the spread of disinformation in the public space, originating both directly from Russia and from domestic actors". 'Contact with reality' The film's title, "The Great Patriotic Trip", is a parody of "The Great Patriotic War", the Russian name for the Soviet-German part of World War II. The premiere is scheduled for August 21, the anniversary of the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of former communist Czechoslovakia which crushed the Prague Spring movement deemed too liberal by Moscow. The film begins by drawing a parallel between 1968 and the invasion of Ukraine and goes on to say that "Russia is leading a disinformation war against the whole of Europe", before introducing the three protagonists. Petra, whose parents were hardline communists, dismissed the war in Ukraine as "nonsense". Ivo said he believed information he finds on the internet "even if it's not true", admitting he is a "conspiracy nut". And Nikola said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is the only man in the world who can stop the Western ideological madness". All three protagonists' surnames are not divulged. Kvapil, who has won several Czech awards for his documentaries, told AFP his goal was not to change the three but "to capture their contact with reality". He admitted that while he tried hard to stay out of the film, he was stunned on many occasions, like when Petra started to sing the Soviet anthem in a van en route to the war zone. "Everything that appears in the film is there because it's surprising in some way. I was trying to pass on the energy of my own astonishment," he said. 'All fake!' Petra got a surprise herself during a visit to mass graves in the eastern Ukrainian town of Izyum, which was occupied for several months at the beginning of the war before it was retaken by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine said in September 2022 it had found more than 440 graves in Izyum. Petra found the pleasant smell of pine trees and fine sand resembling a beach inappropriate for the dreary place. "I know why this place feels so weird! Because it's all fake!" she then exclaimed, calling the graveyard "outstanding material for Ukrainian propaganda and nurturing hatred towards Russia". "I took the shooting as an exercise in inner tolerance which I undergo all my life," Kvapil said. Despite witnessing many horrors of the war, Kvapil's protagonists do not seem to be convinced as they return home. "I still have the same opinion," Ivo said after the trip, while Petra insisted she has "not been reeducated".
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Donald Trump's swap proposal worries Kyiv and EU leaders
European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold online talks with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to underline Ukraine's right to maintain its internationally recognised borders ahead of Trump's meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. EU leaders and Kyiv have concerns that Ukraine could be forced to give up land in return for a ceasefire with Russia. August Hakansson tells us more.
