France responsible for ‘extreme violence’ in Cameroon independence war, report says

Noelle Louise Mekah Fossi, 71, reacts near the Metche Falls where her father Jacob Fossi (unseen), a pro-independence and nationalist activist was murdered, in Bafoussam on January 25, 2025. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 29 January 2025
Follow

France responsible for ‘extreme violence’ in Cameroon independence war, report says

  • 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
  • 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

PARIS: France waged a war marked by “extreme violence” during Cameroon’s fight for independence in the late 1950s, historians said in the latest officially commissioned study grappling with Paris’s colonial past released on Tuesday.
The historians found that Paris implemented mass forced displacement, pushed hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians into internment camps and supported brutal militias to squash the central African country’s push for sovereignty.
The historical commission, whose creation was announced by President Emmanuel Macron during a 2022 trip to Yaounde, examined France’s role leading up to when Cameroon gained independence from France on January 1, 1960 and the following years.




History professor Emmanuel Tchumtchoua  poses for a portrait next to a martyrs' wall in the village of Bahouan, in Bafoussam, on January 25, 2025. (AFP)

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 its previous colonial ruler, Germany, was defeated during World War I.
But a brutal conflict unfolded when the country began pushing for its independence following World War II, a move France violently repressed, according to the report’s findings.
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.
“It is undeniable that this violence was extreme because it violated human rights and the laws of war,” it said.
For many in France, the war in Cameroon went unnoticed because it mainly involved troops from colonies in Africa and was overshadowed by the French fight in Algeria’s 1954-1962 war of independence.
“But this invisibility should not create an illusion. France was indeed waging war in Cameroon,” the report said.
The formerly British Cameroons to the south gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1961 and became part of the newly independent state.

While the study aims to fill France’s “memory gap” on this period, for Cameroonians, “the profound trauma linked to repression remains,” it said.
The report comes as France has seen its influence wane among its former African colonies, which are reevaluating — and sometimes severing — their ties with Paris.
Even after Cameroon gained independence in 1960, Paris remained deeply involved in its governance, working closely with the “authoritarian and autocratic” regime of Ahmadou Ahidjo, who stayed in power until 1982.
France helped draft Cameroon’s post-independence constitution and defense agreements allowed French troops to “maintain order” in the newly independent state.
Ahidjo’s successor, current President Paul Biya, 91, in office since 1982, is only the second president in Cameroon’s history.
Receiving the report in Yaounde on Tuesday, Biya called it a “work of collective therapy” that would encourage the peoples of both countries to better accept their past relationship.
Ahead of its publication, former anti-colonial fighter Mathieu Njassep had told AFP he wanted France to admit to wrongdoing.
“If France does not recognize it was wrong, we won’t be able to forgive it,” said the 86-year-old who fought against Ahidjo’s government from 1960 and was thrown in jail for 14 years for “armed rebellion.”

Macron has taken tentative steps to come to terms with once-taboo aspects of the country’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.
But Macron has ruled out an official apology for torture and other abuses carried out by French troops in Algeria.
France is now reconfiguring its military presence in Africa after being driven out of three countries in the Sahel governed by juntas hostile to Paris — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
And Chad accused Macron of showing contempt after he said African leaders had “forgotten to say thank you” to France for helping to combat jihadist insurgencies in the Sahel.
Last week Macron said he was committed to “continuing the work of remembrance and truth initiated with Cameroon” after receiving the report.
 

 


Militant attacks hit Mozambique as Total readies to resume gas project

Updated 1 min 17 sec ago
Follow

Militant attacks hit Mozambique as Total readies to resume gas project

  • TotalEnergies paused its multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project in 2021
  • TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that the security situation had ‘greatly improved’
MAPUTO: A series of attacks in northern Mozambique this month point to a resurgence of violence by Daesh-linked militants as energy giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume a major gas project, analysts say.
The group terrorized northern Mozambique for years before brazenly vowing in 2020 to turn the northern gas-rich Cabo Delgado province into a caliphate.
TotalEnergies paused a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project there in 2021 following a wave of bloody raids that forced more than a million people to flee.
The insurgency was pushed to the background by a months-long unrest that followed elections in October.
But there has been a new wave of violence. In May, the Islamists attacked two military installations, claiming to kill 11 soldiers in the first and 10 in the second.
A security expert confirmed the first attack and put the toll at 17. There was no comment from the Mozambican security forces.
There were two dramatic strikes earlier – a raid on a wildlife reserve in the neighboring Niassa province late April killed at least two rangers, while an ambush in Cabo Delgado claimed the lives of three Rwandan soldiers.
Also unusual was a thwarted attack on a Russian oceanographic vessel in early May that the crew said in a distress message was launched by “pirates,” according to local media.
“Clearly there is a cause and effect because some actions correspond exactly to important announcements in the gas area,” said Fernando Lima, a researcher with the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory which monitors violence in Mozambique, referring to the $4.7 billion funding approved in mid-March by the US Export-Import Bank for the long-delayed gas project.
“The insurgents are seeing more vehicles passing by with white project managers,” said Jean-Marc Balencie of the French-based political and security risk group Attika Analysis.
“There’s more visible activity in the region and that’s an incentive for attacks.”
Conflict tracker ACLED recorded at least 80 attacks in the first four months of the year.
The uptick was partly due to the end of the rainy season which meant roads were once again passable, it said.
TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last Friday that the security situation had “greatly improved” although there were “sporadic incidents.”
The attack that stalled the TotalEnergies project in 2021 occurred in the port town of Palma and lasted several days, sending thousands fleeing into the forest.
ACLED estimated that more than 800 civilians and combatants were killed while independent journalist Alex Perry reported after an investigation that more than 1,400 were dead or missing.
Rwandan forces deployed alongside the Mozambique military soon afterwards, their number increasing to around 5,000, based on Rwandan military statements.
The concentration of forces in Cabo Delgado “allows insurgents to easily conduct operations in Niassa province,” said a Mozambican military officer on condition of anonymity.
The raid on the tourist wildlife lodge straddling Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces was for “propaganda effect,” said Lima, as it grabbed more international media attention than hits on local villages that claim the lives of locals.
Strikes on civilians, with several cases of decapitation reported, often fall under the radar because of the remoteness of the impoverished region and official silence.
“More than 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique within a few weeks,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week.
This was in addition to the 1.3 million the UN said in November had been displaced since the conflict began in 2017.
“The renewed intensity of the conflict affects regions previously considered rather stable,” said UNHCR’s Mozambique representative Xavier Creach.
In Niassa, for example, about 2,085 people fled on foot after an attack on Mbamba village late April where women reported witnessing beheadings.
More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict since it erupted, according to Acled.

East Timor deports ex-Philippine lawmaker wanted in 2023 killings

Updated 3 sec ago
Follow

East Timor deports ex-Philippine lawmaker wanted in 2023 killings

  • Former Philippines congressman allegedly masterminded a March 2023 attack that killed then-provincial governor Roel Degamo and nine others
  • “The Government hereby informs that Arnolfo Teves Jr. will be deported from Timor-Leste”

MANILA: East Timor deported an Interpol-wanted Filipino murder suspect on Thursday whose case the government has linked to its aspirations to join the regional ASEAN bloc, after more than two years of political wrangling.

Former Philippines congressman Arnolfo Teves allegedly masterminded a March 2023 attack that killed then-provincial governor Roel Degamo and nine others.

AFP journalists saw him boarding a turboprop plane with Philippine Air Force markings that then took off from Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport.

Teves was detained at a driving range in the capital Dili last year, but a Timorese court blocked his extradition. The Philippines justice secretary suggested the decision may have been bought, saying it was “obvious that some people are making money out of this.”

In an abrupt turnaround, East Timor announced Teves’ impending deportation late on Wednesday, saying his continued presence represented a security risk.

“The Government hereby informs that Arnolfo Teves Jr. will be deported from Timor-Leste,” it said in a statement, using the country’s alternate name.

It added that East Timor’s “imminent full accession” to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had reinforced its responsibility to collaborate regionally on legal matters.

On Thursday, the Philippines’ Department of Justice said it was preparing a team to facilitate Teves’ repatriation based on deportation documents from East Timor.

Ex-lawmaker Teves is the prime suspect in the murder of Degamo, the former governor of Negros Oriental province.

Degamo had been distributing aid at his home in Pamplona when six people carrying rifles and dressed in military fatigues entered the compound and opened fire on March 4, 2023.

The killings came months after Degamo was declared winner of a disputed vote, unseating Henry Teves, the ex-lawmaker’s brother.

Arnolfo Teves was expelled from the House of Representatives after refusing to return to the Philippines to face murder charges.

On Wednesday, Teves’ son Axl posted videos on social media of his father being dragged away by Timorese police, claiming he had been “kidnapped.”

Degamo’s widow Janice, meanwhile, called the arrest a “significant step toward justice.”


Thai, Cambodian army chiefs to meet over border clash

Updated 29 May 2025
Follow

Thai, Cambodian army chiefs to meet over border clash

  • A Cambodian soldier was killed on Wednesday during an exchange of gunfire with the Thai army at the border
  • Cambodia and Thailand have long been at odds over their more than 800-kilometer-long border

BANGKOK: The military chiefs of Thailand and Cambodia will meet Thursday, both governments said, after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a border clash.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters on Thursday that “both sides should remain calm and discuss to see what we can agree,” and called for peaceful discussion.

Her Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet wrote on Facebook that he hoped the meeting between the two army commanders “will yield positive results.”

Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told journalists the talks will be held on Thursday afternoon, adding that there had been a “misunderstanding by both sides.”

A Cambodian soldier was killed on Wednesday during an exchange of gunfire with the Thai army at the border, a Cambodian army spokesman said.

His death – a rare fatality along the long-sensitive frontier – came after Cambodian and Thai leaders attended a Southeast Asian summit where the regional ASEAN grouping vowed greater cooperation.

Thailand’s military said Wednesday that its soldiers fired in response to gunshots from Cambodia’s border force, leading to an exchange lasting around 10 minutes before the Thai side said the Cambodians requested a ceasefire.

Cambodian Royal Army spokesman Mao Phalla confirmed the clash on Wednesday, but said Thai soldiers had attacked Cambodian troops who were on border patrol duty in northern Preah Vihear province.

“Our soldier died in the trenches. The Thais came to attack us,” Mao Phalla said.

Cambodia and Thailand have long been at odds over their more than 800-kilometer-long (500-mile) border, which was largely drawn during the French occupation of Indochina.

Bloody military clashes between the Southeast Asian neighbors erupted in 2008 over the Preah Vihear temple near their shared border.

The row over a patch of land next to the 900-year-old temple led to several years of sporadic violence, resulting in at least 28 deaths before the International Court of Justice ruled the disputed area belonged to Cambodia.

In February, Bangkok formally protested to Phnom Penh after a video of women singing a patriotic Khmer song in front of another disputed temple was posted on social media.

On Thursday, influential former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen – Hun Manet’s father, and an ally of Paetongtarn’s father, ex-Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra – urged calm and a peaceful resolution to the ongoing border issues between the two countries.

Paetongtarn traveled to Cambodia in April for a two-day visit, during which she met Hun Manet to discuss cross-border cooperation on issues such as online scams and air pollution.


Navy plane crashes in South Korea

Updated 29 May 2025
Follow

Navy plane crashes in South Korea

SEOUL: A navy plane has crashed in the southern city of Pohang in South Korea, a local government official said on Thursday.
The crash happened at around 1:50 p.m. (0450 GMT), the official at the Pohang city government said.
Four people were on board the patrol plane which crashed in the mountains on the east coast, the Yonhap News Agency reported, citing authorities.
Smoke was seen from the location where the plane appeared to have crashed, Yonhap said, citing a civilian witness.


Early voting starts for South Korea election triggered by martial law

Updated 29 May 2025
Follow

Early voting starts for South Korea election triggered by martial law

  • South Koreans are desperate to draw a line under months of political turmoil
  • The Asian democracy has been led by a revolving door of lame duck acting presidents

SEOUL: Early voting in South Korea’s presidential elections began on Thursday, with both main candidates casting ballots in a poll triggered by ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol’s ill-fated suspension of civilian rule last year.

South Koreans are desperate to draw a line under months of political turmoil sparked by Yoon’s declaration of martial law, for which he was impeached.

Since then the Asian democracy has been led by a revolving door of lame duck acting presidents as its export-driven economy grapples with trade turmoil abroad and sluggish demand at home.

All major polls have placed liberal Lee Jae-myung as the clear frontrunner in the presidential race, with a recent Gallup survey showing 49 percent of respondents viewed him as the best candidate.

Trailing behind him is conservative ex-labor minister Kim Moon-soo of the ruling People Power Party – Yoon’s former party – at 35 percent.

While election day is set for June 3, those who want to vote early can do so on Thursday and Friday.

South Koreans have in recent years turned out in growing numbers for early voting, with 37 percent casting their ballots ahead of polling day in the 2022 presidential election.

By midday the early voting turnout rate was 8.7 percent, the highest yet for that time in South Korean election history, according to Seoul’s National Election Commission.

The overseas voter turnout also reached a historic high, with four-fifths of 1.97 million eligible voters casting their ballots.

“Given that this election was held in the wake of an impeachment and a martial law crisis, it naturally reflects the public’s strong desire to express their thoughts about democracy in South Korea,” Kang Joo-hyun, a political science professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, said.

Voting in Seoul on Thursday morning, Lee told reporters: “There’s a saying that a vote is more powerful than a bullet.”

“Even an insurrection can only truly be overcome through the people’s participation at the ballot box,” added Lee of the Democratic Party.

According to a Gallup poll, more than half of his supporters said they planned to vote early, compared to just 16 percent of Kim’s supporters.

Kim has said he will cast his vote in Incheon, west of Seoul, with his campaign framing it as “the beginning of a dramatic turnaround,” a nod to General Douglas MacArthur’s landing there during the Korean War.

Kim’s decision to vote early has surprised many on the right, where conspiracy theories about electoral fraud – particularly during early voting – are rife.

The 73-year-old however reassured his supporters that there is “nothing to worry about.”

“If you hesitate to vote early and end up missing the main election, it would be a major loss,” said Kim on Wednesday.

“Our party will mobilize all its resources to ensure strict monitoring and oversight of early voting,” he said.

“So please don’t worry and take part in it,” he said.

After early voting, Kim insisted he still has time to win the race.

“We’re closing the gap quickly, and at this pace, I’m confident we’ll take the lead soon,” he told reporters.

Conservative candidate Kim shot to public attention in the aftermath of Yoon’s martial law debacle, when he declined to bow in apology to the public for failing to prevent the suspension of civilian rule.

In contrast, lawyer-turned-politician Lee played a central role in stopping the push to suspect civilian rule, live-streaming his frantic drive to parliament and his scramble over the perimeter fence as he and other lawmakers raced to vote down the decree.

He has since vowed to “bring insurrection elements to justice” if elected president.

But whoever succeeds Yoon will have to grapple with a deepening economic downturn, some of the world’s lowest birth rates and a soaring cost of living.

He will also have to navigate a mounting superpower standoff between the United States, Seoul’s traditional security guarantor, and China, its largest trade partner.