The Cameroon War - A History of French Neocolonialism in Africa

According to conventional wisdom, France's empire in sub- Saharan Africa ended peacefully. But this book tells a different story. The shocking violence of a secret war roiled Cameroon in the 1950s and '60s. A mass movement for self-determination had emerged under the leadership of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), and France responded with brutal repression. As in Algeria, French forces waged a bloody counterinsurgency campaign. They eventually eradicated the opposition and installed a client dictatorship in the capital, Yaoundé.

With the world focused on the Algerian bloodbath, the conflict in Cameroon received little attention at the time. Its devastating aftermath - and tens of thousands of victims - were intentionally obscured by French authorities and their local collaborators. The Cameroon War uncovers this hidden history. It illuminates a forgotten struggle for decolonisation at the origin of neocolonial rule in Francophone Africa, a story that is still unfolding today.

About the author

Thomas Deltombe is an editor and journalist who writes widely for the French press.Manuel Domergue is Research Director at the Fondation Abbé Pierre and a regular contributor to Alternatives Economiques.Jacob Tatsitsa is a Cameroonian historian who has taught at the University of Yaoundé.David Broder is a Rome-based writer and translator. He is a contributing editor for Jacobin magazine and regularly writes on Italian politics for publications including Internazionale.

Report

The Cameroon War throws a spotlight on an episode of Franco-Cameroonian history that is still passed over in silence Julien Le Gros Le Point

Product details

• Authors: Thomas Deltombe, Thomas Domergue Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, Jacob Tatsitsa
• Assisted by: Grey Anderson (Translation), David Broder (Translation), Broder David (Translation)
• Publisher: Verso
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 29.07.2025
• EAN: 9781788733762
• ISBN: 978-1-78873-376-2
• No. of pages: 192
• Series: Verso's Southern Questions
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Colonialism & Post-Colonialism, HISTORY / Social History, HISTORY / Africa / West, 21st Century, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, African History, Early 21st century c 2000 to c 2050, Cameroon, c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period), Civil wars