French President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged that France waged a war marked by "repressive violence" in Cameroon before and after its independence in 1960.

In a rare admission of a long-overlooked part of France's colonial past, President Emmanuel Macron has described his country's actions during Cameroon's struggle for independence in the 50s as "repressive violence".

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has formally recognised what he called France’s “repressive violence” in Cameroon during and after the country’s fight for independence in the late 1950s – a rare admission of a long-overlooked part of France’s colonial history.