A collective of Cameroonian political parties called on Monday July 25 Emmanuel Macron to recognize the "
crimes of colonial France
", a few hours before the official visit to Cameroon of the French head of state who is to meet his counterpart Paul Biya, noted an AFP journalist.
“
We have a historic dispute with France.
It is not the arrival of Macron that gives rise to the problem.
We take the opportunity to wake up Cameroonians to the problem with France which is to put all the crimes of France on the table and settle it definitively if we want to have a peaceful relationship
, "said Bedimo Kuoh, member of the Movement. African for the New Independence and Democracy (Manidem), during a press conference in Douala.
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“Gross violations of human rights”
After the defeat of Germany in 1918, the League of Nations (SDN, ancestor of the UN) had entrusted most of the German colony of Kamerun to the tutelage of France and the rest - the western part bordering Nigeria - to Great Britain.
Before the country's independence in 1960, the French authorities bloodily repressed the "
maquis
" of the UPC (Union des populations du Cameroun), a nationalist party founded in the late 1940s and engaged in the armed struggle against the colonizer and his Cameroonian allies, particularly in Bamileke country.
Several tens of thousands of pro-UPC activists, including the independence leader Ruben Um Nyobè, were massacred first by the French army, then after independence by the Cameroonian army of the regime.
During the press conference, Valentin Dongmo, also a member of Manidem, called on the French head of state to “
recognize the crimes of colonial France as it began to do in Algeria
”.
Valentin Dongmo also pointed the finger at the CFA franc, currency common to ten African countries, including Cameroon, issued in France and considered by its detractors as one of the last vestiges of "
Françafrique
".
In a statement released on Monday, John Fru Ndi, president of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), one of the two main opposition parties, asked "
a mea culpa from France (...) for the flagrant human rights violations and abuses committed during the struggle for self-determination, independence and reunification
”.
“Intolerable” violence
Emmanuel Macron is due to begin a four-day tour of the continent in Cameroon, central Africa's heavyweight, on Tuesday.
Mr. Macron will also travel to Benin, faced with security challenges in the Sahel, and to Guinea-Bissau.
This trip will allow the French president to reaffirm his "
commitment to the process of renewing France's relationship with the African continent
", explained the Elysée.
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In Cameroon, talks with President Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly 40 years, should also focus on the threat of Boko Haram in the north of the country and the conflict between Northwest and Southwest for more than five years from separatist armed groups to law enforcement.
Emmanuel Macron had provoked the indignation of power by declaring in 2020, after being arrested by an opponent, that he had "
put pressure on Paul Biya
" about the "
intolerable
" violence in these regions.