I have always believed that bygones should be bygones, that the past should remain where it is. But today, we wake up to news that makes us revisit painful history: France has admitted to the cruelty and suppression it imposed on Cameroon during the country’s independence struggle.

As someone from a former British colony, I grew up thinking the worst colonial atrocities were those committed by the British Empire in the East Africa Protectorate and other territories. After all, that was the focus of my school history lessons. Today, I’ve learned about the horrific events in Cameroon—tens of thousands killed between 1956 and 1961. To call it anything less than a massacre would be an understatement.

Sadly, Cameroon’s story is not an isolated one. Across the French colonial Empire—in present-day Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Niger, Benin, and Chad—young men were conscripted during the Second World War, often used as little more than human shields against German forces. Their pay was meagre compared to French soldiers. When they returned and protested their unfair treatment, they were met with violence. The infamous Thiaroye massacre in Senegal left hundreds dead. It was only in 2024 that France formally acknowledged that tragedy.

In a letter to Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, made public on Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron said the findings of a Franco-Cameroonian historians’ commission were clear: “A war had taken place in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army exercised repressive violence of several kinds in certain regions of the country.”

Macron named four independence icons killed during French-led military operations, including Ruben Um Nyobè, the fiery leader of the anti-colonialist Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC). The report described how France forced hundreds of thousands into internment camps and backed brutal militias to crush the independence movement. From the late 1940s until 1971, the UPC’s fight for sovereignty was met with assassinations, mass detentions, and scorched-earth tactics. Even after independence in 1960, France supported loyalist forces against UPC insurgents—burning villages, killing civilians, and silencing political dissent.

Until now, these events have been largely absent from France’s public narrative, overshadowed by more widely discussed colonial histories such as Algeria’s war.

Macron wrote: “It is incumbent on me today to accept France’s role and responsibility in these events.” He pledged to open colonial archives and work with Cameroon on memorial and educational initiatives. However, he stopped short of issuing a formal apology – especially for Algeria– something activists say is necessary for true reconciliation.

It is encouraging to see France willing to confront these painful chapters. The country’s colonial legacy is under scrutiny in other places too, from Algeria to its role in Rwanda’s genocide. Investigations are ongoing to uncover and acknowledge these buried histories.

While some argue we should move past the past, I believe we must also honour the lives of those who resisted oppression. Their struggles are part of our heritage, their courage runs through our bloodlines. Acknowledgment cannot erase the pain, but it can ensure their sacrifices are never forgotten.