ASCL Seminar: Writing the history of the Cameroon War (1945-1971) in committee: challenges, practices and results
Primary tabs
France waged a war of decolonisation in Cameroon. The total number of victims amounts to tens of thousands of Cameroonians. Created in March 2023, a Franco Cameroonian commission composed of 14 historians, led by Karine Ramondy, worked for nearly two years on France’s involvement in and commitment to the repression of independence and opposition movements in Cameroon between 1945 and 1971.
A total of 1,100 archive boxes were analysed. 2,300 declassified documents from the French archives were examined, in line with the promise made by the President of the French Republic.
A dozen donations of private archives in France and Cameroon were received. Around 100 interviews were conducted, most of them carried out to cross check the information found in the archives.
The report, published in January 2025 and in open access, highlights the many acts of repressive violence perpetrated by colonial authorities and the French army before and after independence in 1960.
Can writing the history of the Cameroon war contribute to reparations?
Speaker
Karine Ramondy is a historian and associate researcher at UMR SIRICE, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her research focuses on the history of Europe-Africa relations in the 20th century, the history of decolonization/independence in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Central Africa, war violence and the circulation of combatants. In April 2020, she published "Leaders assassinés en Afrique centrale: entre régulation des relations internationales et construction nationale (1958-1961)" (L'Harmattan), the result of her doctoral work, and a series of articles and chapters on colonial violence in the context of independence. From February 2023 to February 2025, she chaired the research component of the mixed Commission on the role and commitment of France in Cameroon in the fight against independence and opposition movements from 1945 to 1971. The report was submitted to Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Paul Biya at the end of January 2025: it recommends a series of memorial acts and acknowledgements to both Heads of State.In July 2025, President E. Macron made acknowledgements in a letter addressed to Cameroonian President Paul Biya.
Date, time and location
02 April 2026
15:00-17:00
Herta Mohr Building / Faculty of Humanities, Witte Singel 27a, 2311 BG Leiden
Room 0.31
Registration
Posted on 10 March 2026, last modified on 10 March 2026