An Incomplete Reckoning: Why Activists Say France’s Work Has Just Begun

For the activists who fought for this moment, France’s acknowledgment of its war in Cameroon is not the end of a process, but the very beginning. They see it as an incomplete reckoning, a single step on a long path toward genuine justice.
President Macron’s letter is seen as a foundation, not a capstone. Now that the fact of the war is no longer in dispute, activists are shifting their focus to the necessary consequences of that admission. Their work has not ended; it has entered a new phase.
The agenda for this new phase is clear. First is the demand for a full apology, moving from a political acceptance of responsibility to a moral expression of regret. Second is the push for reparations, a tangible acknowledgment of the damage done. Third is the campaign for educational reform and the opening of all archives.
These activists argue that a reckoning cannot be declared complete by the perpetrator. It is the victims and their descendants who must be satisfied. Until their calls for apology, repair, and remembrance are met, France’s work of confronting its past has only just begun.