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".

This follows a joint report by Cameroonian and French historians in January on France’s role in push for sovereignty by its former colony from 1945 to 1971.