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)
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)
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Updated 29 January 2025

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

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.


Rubio hails end of USAID as Bush, Obama deplore cost in lives

Rubio hails end of USAID as Bush, Obama deplore cost in lives
Updated 58 min 3 sec ago

Rubio hails end of USAID as Bush, Obama deplore cost in lives

Rubio hails end of USAID as Bush, Obama deplore cost in lives
  • “This program shows a fundamental question facing our country — is it in our nation’s interest that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is,” Bush said
  • Obama said that ending USAID was “inexplicable” and “will go down as a colossal mistake“

WASHINGTON: The US foreign aid agency formally closed down Tuesday, with President Donald Trump’s administration trumpeting the end of the “charity-based model” despite predictions that millions of lives will be lost.

Founded in 1961 as John F. Kennedy sought to leverage aid to win over the developing world in the Cold War, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has now been incorporated into the State Department — after Secretary of State Marco Rubio slashed 85 percent of its programming.

In a farewell to remaining staff on Monday, former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama — as well as U2 frontman Bono — saluted their work and said it was still needed.

Bush pointed to PEPFAR, the massive US effort to fight HIV/AIDS that he considers one of the top achievements of his 2001-2009 Republican presidency.

“This program shows a fundamental question facing our country — is it in our nation’s interest that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is,” Bush said in a video message seen by AFP.

Obama, who like Bush has been sparing in openly criticizing Trump, said that ending USAID was “inexplicable” and “will go down as a colossal mistake.”

“Gutting USAID is a travesty and it is a tragedy because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world,” the Democrat said.

A study published in the medical journal The Lancet predicted that more than 14 million people would die, a third of them small children, by 2030 due to the foreign aid cuts.

Rubio painted a drastically different picture of USAID, which was an early target of a sweeping government cost-cutting drive led for Trump by billionaire Elon Musk.

Rubio said that USAID’s “charity-based model” fueled “addiction” by developing nations’ leaders and that trade was more effective.

“Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War,” Rubio wrote in an essay.

He also complained that many recipients of US aid do not vote with the United States at the United Nations and that rival China often enjoys higher favorability among the public.

A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that The Lancet study relied on “incorrect assumptions” and said the United States will continue aid but in a “more efficient” way.

He said that PEPFAR will remain, with a priority on stopping HIV transmission from mothers to children.
But he acknowledged the United States was no longer funding PrEP medication, which significantly reduces the rate of HIV transmission and has been encouraged by high-risk communities.

“No one is saying that gay men in Africa shouldn’t be on PrEP. That’s wonderful. It doesn’t mean that the United States has to pay for every single thing,” the official said.

He said the Trump administration was looking at “new and innovative solutions” and pointed to food deliveries in war-battered Gaza staffed by US military contractors and surrounded by Israeli troops.

Witnesses, the United Nations and local Gaza officials have reported that Israeli troops have repeatedly opened fire and killed Palestinians waiting for aid — although the US-backed initiative, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, denies any deadly incidents.

Bob Kitchen, the vice president for emergencies at the International Rescue Committee, said that the 14 million death prediction was consistent with what the humanitarian group was seeing.

Among the group’s programming that was funded through USAID, he said that nearly 400,000 refugees who fled the war in Sudan have now been deprived of acute aid and that more than 500,000 Afghans, mostly women and girls, have been cut off from education and health care.

European Union nations and Britain, rather than filling the gap, have also stepped back as they ramp up defense spending with encouragement from Trump.

Kitchen warned that cuts will not only worsen frontline emergencies but weaken more stable countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, which will have no back-up if rains fail again.

Kitchen said that, beyond moral considerations, the cuts will aggravate migration, a top consideration for Trump.

“It’s self-interest. If insecurity spreads, outbreaks spread, there’s no line of defense anymore.”


EU says ready to facilitate return to Iran nuclear talks

EU says ready to facilitate return to Iran nuclear talks
Updated 01 July 2025

EU says ready to facilitate return to Iran nuclear talks

EU says ready to facilitate return to Iran nuclear talks
  • Brussels is willing to facilitate a return to negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program after US and Israeli strikes
  • EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas held a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday

BRUSSELS: The EU’s top diplomat told Iran’s foreign minister Tuesday that Brussels is willing to facilitate a return to negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program after US and Israeli strikes.
“Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program should restart as soon as possible” and “cooperation” with the International Atomic Energy Agency must resume, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X after a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“The EU is ready to facilitate this.”
Kallas further warned Tehran that “any threats to pull out of the non-proliferation treaty don’t help to lower tensions.”
The call came after Aragchi ruled out a quick resumption of talks with the United States and said Tehran will first need assurances it will not be attacked again.
The United States and Iran were holding nuclear talks when Israel hit Iranian nuclear sites and military infrastructure. The United States joined the assault by bombing three nuclear sites — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — on June 21.
The EU has long sought to play a mediation role with Iran.
The 27-nation bloc was a signatory — and facilitator — of a 2015 deal between Iran and international powers over Tehran’s nuclear program.
US President Donald Trump abandoned that deal in 2018.


Putin, Macron hold first phone call since 2022, talked about Ukraine, Iran

Putin, Macron hold first phone call since 2022, talked about Ukraine, Iran
Updated 01 July 2025

Putin, Macron hold first phone call since 2022, talked about Ukraine, Iran

Putin, Macron hold first phone call since 2022, talked about Ukraine, Iran

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron held their first known telephone conversation since 2022, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
“Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron,” the Kremlin said in a statement, making it their first such conversation since September 2022, several months after Russia launched its full-scale offensive on Ukraine.
Macron urged Putin on Tuesday in a two-hour call to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine “as soon as possible”.
Macron “emphasised France’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “called for the establishment, as soon as possible, of a ceasefire and the launch of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia for a solid and lasting settlement of the conflict,” the Elysee Palace said.
On Iran, “the two presidents decided to coordinate their efforts and to speak soon in order to follow up together on this issue,” the French presidency added.


Italy boosts legal work visas, as union says policy falls short

Italy boosts legal work visas, as union says policy falls short
Updated 01 July 2025

Italy boosts legal work visas, as union says policy falls short

Italy boosts legal work visas, as union says policy falls short
  • Meloni has sought to reduce the number of undocumented migrants to Italy
  • Her government has also increased pathways for legal migration for non-EU workers

ROME: Italy’s hard-right government has agreed to issue 500,000 visas for non-EU workers over the next three years, but a top trade union warned Tuesday that only structural change would tackle labor shortages.

The government of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said a total of 497,550 workers would be allowed in over the 2026-2028 period, starting with around 165,000 in 2026.

This is up from the 450,000 quota set by Meloni’s government for 2023-2025 period — itself a sharp increase on the 75,700 quota for 2022 and around 70,000 for 2021.

Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, has sought to reduce the number of undocumented migrants to Italy.

But her government has also increased pathways for legal migration for non-EU workers to tackle labor shortages in an aging country with a sluggish birth rate.

The greatest number of visas over the next three years — some 267,000 — will be given for seasonal work in the agricultural and tourism sectors.

Italy’s main agricultural lobby, Coldiretti, welcomed the new visa plan as an “important step forward to ensure the availability of workers in the fields, and with it, food production.”

But a top official in the CGIL trade union — Italy’s oldest and largest — said Tuesday the new quotas did not address migration dynamics and labor needs.

Maria Grazia Gabrielli pointed to the number of applications that were far lower than the available quotas, with the exception of domestic work.

In 2023 and 2024, only 7.5-7.8 percent of the quotas actually resulted in a residence permit, she said in a statement, pointing to their ineffectiveness.

Gabrielli criticized the government’s policy of prioritising applicants from countries who discourage their nationals from illegally migrating to Italy.

A 2023 decree allowed preferential quotas from countries, such as those in North Africa, who help Italy fight human traffickers and conduct media campaigns warning of the dangers of crossing the Mediterranean.

She called it a system “that takes no account whatsoever of the reasons for migration dynamics and the need for a response that does not focus on punitive logic and rewards for some countries.”

Italy’s foreign worker policy is fraught with loopholes and possibilities for fraud, with criminal gangs exploiting the system and even foreign workers already in Italy applying for visas.

The union leader said structural work was needed — including regularising workers already in Italy — to help employers struggling to find labor and to try to keep foreign workers out of irregular situations.


Trump hails new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center

Trump hails new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center
Updated 01 July 2025

Trump hails new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center

Trump hails new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center
  • “I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they’re supposed to be,” said Trump
  • The Florida detention center is part of the Trump administration’s tough optics for its crackdown on undocumented migrants

OCHOPEE, USA: US President Donald Trump reveled in a new Florida migrant detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” Tuesday, joking that any escapees would be taught to run away from the reptiles to avoid being eaten.

Critics of Trump’s harsh immigration crackdown have called the site in the Everglades swamp inhumane, but the Republican embraced the controversy as he attended its official opening.

“A lot of cops in the form of alligators — you don’t have to pay them so much,” Trump told reporters in Ochopee, Florida.

“I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they’re supposed to be.”

The Florida detention center is part of the Trump administration’s tough optics for its crackdown on undocumented migrants since the 78-year-old returned to power in January.

The site on an abandoned airfield in the Everglades conservation area will cost an estimated $450 million and house 1,000 people, Florida authorities say.

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who greeted Trump on the tarmac, said “we want to cut through bureaucracy... to get the removal of these illegals done.”

Trump, who has cracked down on undocumented migrants since returning to power, riffed on the idea of people running away from Florida wildlife as he left the White House earlier.

“I guess that’s the concept,” Trump told reporters when asked if the idea behind the detention center was that people who escaped from it would get eaten by alligators or snakes.

“This is not a nice business. Snakes are fast, but alligators... we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator, okay?

“If they escape prison, how to run away. Don’t run in a straight line. Run like this. And you know what? Your chances go up about one percent.”

But Trump later embarked on one of his dark diatribes about immigration in a news conference at the site, describing an influx of undocumented migrants under Democratic predecessor Joe Biden as “disgusting” and falsely conflating most migrants with “sadistic” criminal gangs.

The name “Alligator Alcatraz” is a reference to Alcatraz Island, the former prison in San Franciso that Trump recently said he wanted to reopen.

That plan has apparently stalled after officials said it would cost too much and be too impractical to reopen the prison surrounded by shark-infested waters.

As it seeks to look tough on migration, the Trump administration is also sending some undocumented migrants to the former “War on Terror” prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Protesters against Trump’s immigration policies have demonstrated outside the new Florida facility in recent days.

Environmentalists have also criticized the creation of the camp in a conservation area.

The Everglades National Park is particularly known as a major habitat for alligators, with an estimated population of around 200,000. They can reach up to 15 feet in length when fully grown.

Attacks by alligators on humans are relatively rare in Florida.

Across the entire state there were 453 “unprovoked bite incidents” between 1948 and 2022, 26 of which resulted in human fatalities, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

But authorities have played up the risk.

Trump’s “Alligator Alcatraz” visit comes as he tries to push a huge tax and spending bill through Congress this week.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” contains funding for Trump’s immigration crackdown including an increase in places in detention centers.

The deportation drive is part of a broader campaign of harsh optics on migration, including raids in Los Angeles that sparked protests against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.